The Firewall
by Braindead123
Summary: Few things stink more than being a teenager, but nothing ruins Dylan's weekend like ending up in the middle of an inter-dimensional crisis. All of a sudden it seems Dylan has to help save two worlds, but there's one big issue... He's not digidestined! How on Earth is he supposed to help? Rated M for violence, language, and death. No smut.
1. I make friends with two aliens

**WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOO! I'm back, humans! If you only follow me for my smut, sorry, but this story will disappoint you. I won't quit working on that on the side, though. So, if you want to read a real digimon story, read on!**

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For once in a long time I was looking forward to hanging out with Bradley again on Saturday. His finals were over and he wasn't employed, so I couldn't imagine what on earth could get in the way of seeing him this time. Ever since school started he became much more distant from me. I suspected it was because I was a high school freshman and he was a junior, but I would hope he was better than that. A phone call from him dashed my hopes, though. I wondered what his excuse would be this time.

"Brad if you're about to cancel on me again, I think I'll just go ahead and delete your number since I don't even know you anymore."

There was a hesitant pause before Brad responded with, "...come on, man, my grandma's in the hospital. I really wish I didn't have to go, believe me." The guy sounded like he meant it, but he sounded just like that every time. By this point it had been a year since we last met up, and, well... actions speak louder than words. I hung up, getting real frustrated with his antics by then. I could have really used some company.

So what do I do? I tried to arrange something with the band. "Hey, Trent, it's Dylan. You feel like grabbing Josh and seeing if he wants to meet up?"

"Hang on." I sat there for two full minutes as I waited for Trent to find his brother. The final response? "No good. He's got plans with one of his friends, Brad." As expected, hearing that name made me scowl in anger.

"Do you mean Bradley Karr?"

"Yeah, why?"

Forget scowling. Had Trent been in the room with me he would have seen me shake in raw anger. I abruptly hung up on him before throwing my phone at my wall in a fit of rage. I never liked the idea of wasting money on a case for products deliberately made delicate as a method of extortion, so my phone obviously shattered into many pieces, some possibly fixable and some clearly not. I just growled at it, though, glad to see it gone in my fit.

Ever since Brad started on the cigarettes, he's been on a path to a living hell of his own making. I guess smoking may have been his own choice, but it proved A) he was susceptible to peer pressure, and B) those peers were not good people. It didn't stop at tobacco. It went forward to weed, prostitutes, stupid stunts, even criminal acts - like using a dogsitting job as a way to get into my family's home and steal all the cash and valuables he could lay his hands on.

My father was an intimidating man when he chooses to be. He chose to sit down and scare my former friend rather than send him to prison like he deserved. His own parents were even scarier. The guy lost whatever electronics and possessions he didn't pay for, including the car, and was faced with either paying restitution or going to prison. Predictably, he chose the former.

Now, here's the plot twist: the next time he showed up at my place was with everything he stole and a black eye. A warning not to rat on the others' activities, apparently. They must have had a reason to suspect he would, which means I believe he left them behind. So that's why I forgave him even though he didn't deserve it. And since then I'd gotten the cold shoulder. I figured I was the last reminder of a chapter in his life he would have rather forgotten.

"How did you think I would feel?" I began to sing glumly to myself, plopping down on my bed, "You threw me aside again/ How did you think I would feel?" Glumness gave way to rage. "What made you hurt me again?/I'm... nothing to you, I can see!/ Just Walk away from me!/ I'm stuck here, and I can't believe/ You'd sit and watch me bleed!"

By the end of the chorus I was out of breath and shouting more than singing. But Brad had been my only friend in the past six years or so, even if he had failed at that responsibility more than once over that time. I was grief-stricken, for this was the final straw. But also not helpful, because of all that... I was alone.

I couldn't really take that. He was in walking distance, so I stomped down to his family's place and knocked on the door. It was Bradley's older brother Jay that ended up answering the door. He was no smarter than his brother, but he was a better person, and that made all the difference in the world. "Hey, Brad asked me over," I lied. Good people are easy to fool.

But Jay wasn't quite that good. "He's doing homework," Jay informed me. Now, this was a very informative response, actually. It told me Jay was up to something he didn't want his brother to know about... And that he was the dirty liar I expected him to be. Don't forget, finals were over. I was fearing a complete behavior relapse now.

"I know. We're in the same Algebra II class. He wanted my help." At least I was lying for a good cause. So that's how I gained entry into the home. I headed up the stairs to his bedroom and knocked on the closed door.

I half expected silence, but I got a response unexpectedly. "Not a good time, dad! I'm doing homework!" After that I heard a couple whispers, which I inferred to be him and at least one girl in there.

I wasn't amused. "Yeah? Well tell your homework she has four seconds to climb out the window before I open the door." Was I kind of stalking? Yes, yes I was. Did I care? Meh. I was a little generous with time, though, giving eight seconds before opening up. Wherever she was, she must have gone out the window... and closed it behind her. Oh, well. I wasn't here for her. "What is this bullshit? Do you think you can call me a friend and keep me no closer than arm's length? What the hell have you been up to?"

Bradley glanced at his computer before he answered, a telling sign. But before I could actually follow his gaze he tried to pass off walking in front of it as moving to face me and finally take me take me seriously. "Alright, man, I haven't talked to you much, but-"

"What's on the computer?"

He froze. He knew I had him. He sighed and looked everywhere except at me, then down at some necklace he was wearing with a weird symbol strung on it. I guessed it had some significance to him, though, because he was thinking hard while staring down at it. Looked like he was having a crisis of conscience again. But at least this time he chose to do the right thing, I thought, when he sighed again and finally looked up with a nod toward his computer. "Okay. I'll show you. But I need you-"

"To trust you? I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. We've already established you're lying to me, and to your family. And do you wanna explain what's so secret that you and Josh are keeping it from me?"

Bradley seemed surprised to hear me drop that name. "You know Josh?"

"I'm in a band with him! He's my drummer!" Apparently this was not good news to Brad.

"...what's he told you?"

"He hasn't told me shit! He doesn't have to! He shows up to band rehearsals and doesn't get himself into trouble." I leaned in and narrowed my eyes then. "He's not getting himself into trouble with you, is he?"

Bradley clocked me then, a solid left hook that would have flattened me if I didn't roll with it. Still, it didn't have his usual power. Brad was a strong guy who knew how to fight. He had held back. "You idiot! We're trying to protect you by not getting you involved!" That was shouted in a bit of a growl, but Brad's eyes looked more guilty than angry. "And I wasn't going to tell you trust me!"

I'm more of a pacifist, so I didn't strike back. I would have just broken my knuckles anyway. I kept silent and still, as he had my attention. He continued, "I'll show you what I'm up to, but you need to prepare yourself. I wasn't ready, and... Man, I still can't believe it." He reached out with a hand and let it rest on my shoulder in a friendly gesture while he took another sigh. Then his eyes closed, and he pushed me toward his computer. Hard! Shit, I thought that was a low move, and I was about to slam right into his monitor!

As it turns out, I did... Sort of. I'll get back to that. But what I registered hitting at the time was only the ground, which left me briefly disoriented as I rose up. But when I did get my feet back under me... Well, I was only further disoriented. For starters, carpet flooring had been suddenly replaced by green grass, and the room seemed a lot more open and naturally lit... Wait... I wasn't in a room! I was outside! In the sun! Did I fall out the window? No, it was closed, and I didn't see any glass shards around me.

Actually, I didn't see much if anything around me. Not even his house. Nobody's house. It was like I had just glitched and teleported to some wild plains area. A bit terrified, I was liked backwards and- "Ow!" -slammed my head right into something. I whipped around to see a rock in the air. But, man... listen to this. It wasn't falling! It was just, like, floating there! I waved my hand over and under it but found nothing keeping it in the air. "I wonder..." I thought briefly before jumping up in the air myself. But nope, I came right back down. I guess only rocks get to defy the laws of physics.

"Trippy, right?" Whipping back around, there was my friend Bradley. The most notable thing about him was his clothes. His Vans were jet black arched-sole sneakers. His shorts were black jeans with pockets for days. Over his black T-shirt was a dark orange open hoodie. Nothing weird, except he was wearing none of that when he pushed me. "It takes some getting used to. If you're gonna vomit, do it in private. I don't wanna see that shit."

 _Smack_! "Bradley! That's no way to treat your friend!" Actually, that wasn't me. Someone else had smacked Brad's side scolded him. I hadn't noticed him before, but... damn. Could you blame me? Floating rocks, teleportation, magic clothes and now... this. "Apologies for his behavior. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Gabumon, Bradley's digimon!"

Oh, yeah. It was some freaky shit.

Gabumon wasn't a human. He was... hell, I dunno. A cross between a lot of things. Lizard came to mind first because his body was mostly golden scales, but most lizards I've met had slitted pupils and no horns, unlike Gabumon. He was also wearing what resembled an albino tiger pelt, kinda like an old Native American chief or something, and he was about half my height. It would have been off-putting if he wasn't speaking and holding his hand - paw - out like such a nice, polite guy.

I didn't shake it immediately. Part of it was that I was still a bit freaked out, part was the last time an innocent touch was applied I ended up where I currently was and a smaller issue was I didn't want to risk cutting myself on the pelt's really long, sharp claws. But I shook it anyway, even if I gave a funny look while doing it. "Hey... Call me Dylan."

I thought I had pissed him off. His eyes widened. He yanked his paw back (luckily not scratching me). But he wasn't angry at me. "Bradley, what did I tell you? What did Gallantmon tell you? No other humans! He doesn't have the digivice, he doesn't have the power! He wasn't chosen-"

"I know! But Gabumon, there was no hiding it anymore. Look, he doesn't have a partner, but maybe he can help!"

"Hey!" I recoiled, "I didn't sign up for... Whatever you do!"

Gabumon agreed, "Dylan's right, Bradley. You know this place is dangerous and unpredictable. Without a partner, who knows what could happen to him?"

"Uh, excuse me!" I interjected before I was phased out of the conversation. "Would someone explain to me what 'this place' is and how I got here?" That didn't help much because the initial response I got was all looks from them, all awkward silence. "Oh, please. Talking lizard dog, teleportation, secrets, floating rocks, do you think I'm not gonna be able to handle that inevitable question?"

Bradley choffed and inclined his head acknowledingly. "Eh, got a point there. Okay, here's what's going on." Finally! A straight answer! "You're in the digital world. Cyberspace has gotten so big it's basically a whole nother universe now." He gestured to Gabumon. "Gabumon is a Digimon. Digimon are the creatures that live in the digital world. We met because I was chosen by... Well, we don't really know. And I don't know why, either. But I live here more than that world now. I figure, it's a new start. The one I needed."

I think there was more he meant to say, but at that moment what I can only describe as a shimmering and rift in space occurred before another human teleported. I guess Brad had earned my forgiveness, but this one hadn't. He has yet to be honest with me. His Digimon reminded me of a robot lizard with crimson red plating. The human was decked out in boots, cargo shorts, a leather beater with a best over, and fingerless gloves on his hands - all flame-patterned.

Me, I wasn't amused. I stood there with my arms crossed and a cold stare as he entered the digital world. Josh was quick to notice my presence and attitude while I maintained silence. "Oh, hell no! Brad, what did you-"

"Skip it," I nonchalantly but firmly commanded.

"You skip it!" rebelled the new Digimon, however, before addressing Bradley. Rude. "If Gallantmon knew you brought a human who wasn't destined, he'd be furious!"

"Shoutmon, it's done. So accept it or shut up," Brad told him off.

"...the name fits," I remarked off-hand. "I'm not even going to ask how long you think you can keep up the charade, Brad, or why you, Josh, think lying to your friend is ever acceptable."

"Dylan, take a breath." Brad was smart. He knew the signs almost always. Sometimes calming me down in the early stages worked, and sometimes it didn't. But he did have to try.

"No! Here I come to find not only were my friends keeping a huge secret from me, but now I'm in a completely different universe?" I wasn't just angry. This was worse. "How the hell is anyone supposed to find us? How am I gonna get home? Maybe you don't have a life to live there anymore, but I do!" I was hysterical.

Let me explain. I'm autistic. High-functioning, which is a fancy term that means you can't always tell, but it manifests infrequently or invisibly most of the time. You might have noticed I'm an unpleasant person to be around? I don't quite get socialization, and I don't always even like it. It's still a struggle to look people in the eye. But most relevant to the moment are my reluctance to accept change, a constant source of cognitive dissonance, and unfamiliar, otherwise stressful environments and situations take a great toll on me.

"Get me back, Bradley! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" I think one of the Digimon panicked, because between then and a few hours later, all I remember is a sharp pain on the back of my head and blackness.

The ironic part was when I woke up and found Josh's fist over Shoutmon's head, who was rubbing it profusely. I decided to pretend I didn't know who hit me so I wouldn't take it personally. Must have been a short time, because nobody moved me. But there was time for a new arrival on the scene. Unfortunately, before my vision cleared up, it vanished. Josh was the first to speak then, "Okay, here's the deal. The firewall is blocking our way back, so we need to wait until it opens up. Shouldn't be longer than a few hours, max, and when it happens this'll tell us."

My drummer tossed me his phone. I thought it was when I first looked at it, anyway. "That's a digivice," he explained, "Can't survive without one. I'd give you one, but there's only one in existence for every human supposed to be here."

"So this thing's my ticket back to sanity?"

"Among other things, yeah. Hell, even I dunno everything it does." I turned it in my hand and examined it. It was red, like Shoutmon, all over, and the back had a lightning bolt design on it. "You mind handing that back? It's gonna be dark soon. We should make camp."

I figured I'd better accept the situation I was stuck in, since, well, I was stuck. So without objection I tossed Josh's digivice back to him. Okay, I objected a little, but I thought it was a valid objection. "What do you mean, dark soon? Look up! The sun's high in the sky!"

My drummer just held up three fingers in reply. Then dropped one. Two. When his hand became a fist, the sun went out like a puff of smoke! What the hell? But Brad was completely nonchalant about the whole thing. "I got this," he said. Got what? Now we could barely see, the only light being his digivice screen.

Well, it turned out I learned another digivice function then. After tapping its screen a few times he produced three flashlights and five glow sticks before he began passing them all out, though only humans got flashlights. I think Gabumon knew I was confused by that. "Digimon have a sixth sense for one another. We can sense one another's presence, so if there's trouble, we'll probably be the first to know anyway." That was no crazier than anything else I learned that day, so I took it in stride as I got the glow stick between a couple empty belt loops (my clothes didn't change!).

"You don't have a tent in that device, do y- Oh, come on!" He didn't have a tent. He had two.

Josh chided, "You're sleeping on the ground. We didn't pack space for a spare. And you better not be a snorer!" and that was the only unceremonious goodnight I got before both the boys crawled into their respective tents. I was left alone there, so I sat down, one leg outstretched and the other folded in while my arm kept me supported.

"Jesus Christ... What have I gotten myself into?"

"Who's that? Friend o' yours?" Oh, I wasn't completely alone. The Digimon were on either side of me. I scoffed at Shoutmon's question.

"Nah, he's a popular guy, but he's no friend of mine." I took a sigh. "But maybe he oughta be. It seems I have poor judgement when it comes to whether things are real."

"...I have no idea what that means!" declared Shoutmon before plopping down beside me with some goofy grin on his face. Gabumon followed suit, giving me a concerned look as he did so more slowly. He's a good guy, which means he's transparent.

"You don't have to watch me. I won't run off." I think Gabumon was about to open his mouth to deny that, but Shoutmon scoffed, giving away their true intentions.

"Dylan, it's..." Gabumon seemed to be having some trouble finding the words he wanted. "Don't be angry at your friends. They wanted to protect you. And they succeeded, did they not? These past few months you've been just fine."

"I think that's a stretch."

"You've been safe. Bradley can never leave for the digital world before first taking a long look at that necklace of his. It bears the Crest of Friendship. Not the real one, obviously, but the same symbol."

"The crest of-?"

"Don't ask," Shoutmon interjected, "Unless you want a boring history lesson. Just believe it's important, okay?"

"As I was saying... I know the person he used to be. He's repented, and if you could see him now, I know you'd support him. He's spoken highly of you, you know. You're a good influence on him."

Now that took me by surprise. "You're kidding, right? He almost got me arrested when he threw a firecracker out his car window."

"I said you were a good influence on him, not the other way around. But he strives to be more like you these days. You don't take stupid risks, he says, and you aren't easily swayed by others."

I scoffed at Gabumon. "He's not wrong. But that ain't exactly an ideal life either. I'm 15 years old, and I've never even had a date. Not even a peck on the cheek. I've never really lived my life. I go to school, I go home, I watch TV, repeat. I'm bored! I'd kill for a shot at an adventure! I'm... I'm a little envious."

I thought Gabumon actually felt for me. His eyes softened a little. Shoutmon wasn't so apparently sympathetic, though. He reminded me, "Yeah, let's not forget how you are in a tense situation." I wanted to glare at him, but all I could muster was a shrug and sullen look. He had a point. "Aww, c'mon, don't do that. Now you're makin' me feel bad!"

Gabumon's glare at Shoutmon was no joke, and he knew it. "Sleep, Dylan," he half-invited, half-commanded. "We'll keep you safe. Tomorrow we get you home, and everything will work out. But please sleep?"

I didn't have much else to do, did I? So I did as I was told.


	2. I help out a fellow rock band

"Wakey, wakey, new guy!" That order was followed by a swift kick in the gut, which caused me to cry out and roll over. "You sure about this Josh?"

"Positive, Shoutmon." I rose from the ground while clutching my side. Damn, that hurt! Josh just shrugged innocently, though. "Don't look at me. That was his idea. Now listen up." The camper stuff was all packed up, and Josh was idly scrolling through the screen of his digivice. I guess I was the last to wake. "Firewall's still up, and we got other jobs to do besides watching you. So you're gonna make yourself useful." Josh motioned me over, so I came over and looked at his digivice screen. It was a map?

"That's a village. Gotsumon village, to be exact." I decided not to ask what those were. "Our job is to find out who's holding them prisoners in their own village and liberate them."

"Sounds like our song 'Consent of the Governed.'"

"'Cept the Gotsumon can't fight or flee. That's where we come in. And you get the easiest job on the planet." Josh was about to shove something into my chest, but I stopped it with my hands before he could. That was what he wanted, though. They were binoculars. "All you gotta do is watch our backs." After that he gave me his digivice.

"Huh? What's this for?"

The digivice shouted at me, "So we can stay in touch over a distance!" I was stunned and scared, but Bradley was bent over from laughing. That was his voice talking into his own device and coming out of Josh's. "Ha! So worth it."

Naturally, the guys had me scouting the place out before they headed in. I guess that was a safe enough job. I wondered where they got the binoculars, because they were top-gear! Military grade, I suspected. I was laid down prone on a hilltop half a mile away and could see just fine. "Whatcha got, Dylan?"

"I got nothin'. The place looks completely empty. Lots of huts and nobody to live in them." I focused the lenses a bit. "There's also some kinda rock formations all over. Almost exactly the same, like they were built that way. For a purpose. Don't think it matters, but I'm curious."

Josh sounded through Brad's digivice, "We must be in the right place. Gotsumon are rocky Digimon."

Gabumon then added, "They aren't fighters, though. They'd rather run and hide than fight. They must be disguising themselves as ordinary rocks to avoid being seen."

"Well, it worked on me. I don't see what they're hiding from, though, so unless it's hiding from me, you're good to go. Yeesh, is this really what you do with your free time?"

I got no answer, so maybe my joke wasn't all that funny. But I was bored. Boy, I expected more action, yet there I was, just waiting and watching for the guys to arrive at the village themselves. Heck, now that I had gotten in the mindset, I was ready for a fight! I was hoping for-

"Whatcha doin'?"

"Gyah!" I jumped up to my feet when an unfamiliar voice appeared right next to my ear. Guess I wasn't exactly a stealthy Navy SEAL! The strange Digimon had laid himself down right beside me on his belly like me, and who knows how long he had been there? Geez, I got so caught up watching the village, I didn't think to watch my back. I got lucky, though, I think. This guy wasn't exactly acting threatening.

Like Gabumon and Shoutmon, he was a short guy with claws on his hands and feet. Unlike Gabumon, he was dressed in blue skin over most of his body (yeesh, and we care about whether someone's skin is black, white, or tan - these guys are every color of the rainbow!), though his front from the horned nose to the groin area was all white instead. Sure, he had spines on his back, but the short tail and ears that reminded me of an combined with an innocent babyface to make him look... okay, I'm not gonna lie. Cute. I could see myself snuggling a stuffed toy that looked like him to sleep.

I can't believe I said that.

"Yeesh, you're jumpy, aren'tcha? Maybe you shouldn't be here. I heard there's a not-so-good Digimon around."

I assumed the Digimon meant me no harm, so I could calm down. "Yeah, uh... I know. That's what I'm doing here."

My new friend lifted where his eyebrow would be curiously before clenching his fists and grinning like he was getting fired up for something. "So you're gonna fight off the evil Digimon and save the village? Great! I'll fight with ya! My name's Veemon, but you can call me Veemon!"

"Dylan..." I responded in a much more comparatively subdued, reserved way. "And, uh, no, I'm not... I'm not here to fight anything. I'm just kinda lending a hand, you know?"

"Dylan, who are you talking to?"

Oh, shoot, I forgot the digivice. After picking it up off the ground, I told Bradley, "Just a passerby. No big deal."

Gabumon was next to respond, "Are you sure you don't want me to-"

"No!" I cut him off and was maybe a bit too firm as I did so. "No, I... I got this. You got the dangerous job, anyway." I then added, "Thanks for the offer," to have some sense of courtesy and maybe preserve feelings. After that I turned to my company. "I think you better go. You said it yourself. Dangerous digimon and all that."

"But I wanna help! C'mon gimme something to do!"

It was clear there was no getting rid of this little guy, so maybe I could use him to my advantage. He didn't look like a brawler, but I already established there was one thing I could really use. "Fine. Listen, I need to keep my eyes on my friends. Do you mind watching my back? Make sure I'm not being snuck up on?"

Veemon flashed me a thumbs up, seemingly excited about his new assignment. "No problem! You do your thing, Dylan!" I gotta admit, I felt a little better with him keeping his eyes open for me. What a stroke of luck!

As I lay back down and started watching through the binoculars, I spoke into Josh's digivice, "I see you guys. Still looks clear. You mind letting me hear anything you say down there?"

"Yeah, hang on." Bradley stopped and fiddled with his digivice for a minute. "I think that's speaker mode. Or whatever counts for it on a digivice. Can you still hear me okay?" He was holding it down around his hip instead of to his face, and it was still louder, so I guessed he was right.

"Yeah, I gotcha. I guess now you gotta wake the Gotsumon and show 'em you're okay. After that, try and find out where-"

"Yeah, we know what we're supposed to do. Just make sure the bad guy doesn't surprise us, okay?"

I didn't answer that immediately, but when I did it was a calm, "Okay, will do," that hid my fuming frustration stemming from being treated like I didn't belong. But I figured I'd be mad about that later. It served no purpose right then.

As the group entered the Gotsumon village I kept silent and just watched. That was my job, so I had to focus on it. The guys rightly decided the Digimon should be the first things seen by the hiding Gotsumon. Shoutmon and Gabumon started making rounds while Gabumon called out, "Hello! Gotsumon! We mean you no harm! We just want to help!" and other things of that nature. For a couple minutes, I thought they were just shouting at piles of rocks. But one began to shift, and it drew my attention immediately. It grew, or rather, stood up.

Man, Josh wasn't kidding. They really looked just like rocks. One by one they hesitantly came out of their metaphorical shells and started forming a little circle around our brave heroes. Josh and Brad followed them in eventually and just sort of blended with them. Man... I could see the looks on their faces from where I was. They were terrified. When a fair number had assembled, Shoutmon yelled out, "Listen up! We're not gonna steal your food, and we're not gonna hurt anybody. We're here to do the opposite, and kick the butt of whoever is doing doing that stuff. So if you all could just tell us where to find him, that'd be real great!"

All I could make out about the Gotsumon murmuring that ensued was that they all had really rough voices... dare I say it? Their voices were gravelly. One finally spoke above the crowd, "Look, you don't want to mess with Meramon. We've tried! We can never even make it to him!"

"Well, let us try!" Josh interjected as he pointed at himself, "Where is he?"

As soon as a single Gotsumon pointed right at me, I sprang into action. "Veemon, we gotta go!" I shouted in a panic while I rushed to get my feet under me and moving. In one hand I grabbed the binoculars, in the other the digivice. But before taking off, I whipped around to check on Veemon. Maybe I should have fled quicker, because standing still long enough got me a fireball face almost. "Oh, shit!" Lucky me, I ducked in time.

Met among was a being of pure fire, and that's about all I got for a description. That's all I need.

I ducked the fireball, but that left me standing face-to-face with a Digimon that wasn't as nice as Gabumon. Who could launch fireballs. Not what I planned for a Saturday afternoon. I thought my only protection was Veemon, but I was wrong. I looked about, and he was nowhere to be found. I figured the cowardly bastard must have split!

That's when I ran. I made sure gravity was on my side by heading downhill toward the people who could actually help me. It went poorly. The incline was so steep I slid most of the way. At least that sped me away from Meramon faster, because he was pursuing me! Just when I thought I got some distance between myself and the threat, though, a new player appeared on the scene. Imagine a wolf, for starters. You know, claws, fangs, deadly, the whole thing. Then give it black and white tiger stripes. Sure, that didn't make it too much scarier, but the fact that that it was around ten feet tall and running straight at me sure as hell did!

When the creature leapt I cowered and crouched, hands over my head protectively. I'm not gonna lie, I shut my eyes, too. It was like the time my dad talked me into riding Everest at Disney World. I just shut my eyes, pretended to be anywhere else, and waited for it to be over. That's how I got through noisy classroom environments and boring lectures, too, so by then it was my go-to when faced with adversity.

When a minute's worth of fighting-related sounds had assaulted my ear drums, I put it together that at least one of those two Digimon wasn't really after me. It seemed they would have preferred to fight each other, so they did. And shit... They went at it. I heard rips, thuds, booms, howls, wails, whines, and many other things people shouldn't hear. I wouldn't say I was traumatized, but I've certainly had more fun moments in life.

And then it went quiet after a thud. I took a sigh of relief, got up off my knees, and opened my eyes... to see two giant wolf eyes staring right back at me. Whoa! I thought the fire guy was dangerous, but if the wolf was the survivor, I could only imagine how tough he was! As the beast tilted its head and examined me, it got closer and closer until it could touch me. I froze and was hyperventilating a bit. But then it nuzzled me?

No, seriously. It just rubbed its snout over my cheeks like it was trying to comfort me or something! Wow, hard to believe a creature that looked like him could be so gentle. I only remembered it was a thinking, intelligent creature, a digimon, when it asked me, "Are you alright? Are you injured?"

I shook my head no. "No, I'm unharmed, and I assume that's thanks to you. I wasn't really, er, watching."

The wolf digimon didn't seem too concerned about that. "That's a relief..." he breathed out. He must have been exhausted, because he flopped down on his side. It was an intentional fall, though. He was still conscious and not doubled over trying to find oxygen but clearly in need of a rest.

Here's the kicker: when he plopped down, his body began to shine a bright light. And it shrank, slowly, and the form itself seemed to alter a bit as it did so. But when the transformation was complete, the light went out. "Gabumon!" I exclaimed in surprise, as that was indeed who was lying there in the wolf's place. And then that I thought about it, the pelt he was wearing perfectly matched the wolf Digimon's fur. It really had to be him. "What just happened? How did you do that?" I asked in wonder.

"It's called digivolution," Bradley's voice answered. No, he wasn't on the digivice. Apparently he had then caught up to me, so I turned around to face him. Naturally, Josh and Shoutmon were with him. "That's what we call it, anyway. We don't have a better name for it. Basically, Gabumon took on a bigger, stronger form to help us. And it looks like it worked. The form you saw is called Garurumon."

"Soon as we put two and two together, Brad sent Garurumon to help you. Looks like he arrived just in time. You hurt?" I looked down at Gabumon then and flashed an uneasy smile. I did owe my life to the guy now, after all. I got one back in return.

I walked to the guys and once more reported, "No, Gabumon got here quick enough to- Haaaaahahah!" Looked like I wasn't completely correct. When I walked my pants rubbed up against the back of my right calf, and it stung like hell! "That's... that's probably not good."

"Here, lean on this." Out of seemingly nowhere Shoutmon conjured... well, I wasn't sure if it was a staff or a mic stand, but either way it served my purpose. So I stood on my left leg and used the stand to take on the extra weight and keep my balance. With my one free hand I slowly lifted up my pant leg to try not to irritate the site again - to moderate success - and once I got it up past the knee, it turned out the entire area was red, and some skin was peeling. Reminded me of the sunburn I got during a vacation to Mexico.

"Okay, update: the bastard got me while I was running. I don't think it's too bad. Maybe a fireball just grazed me or something... Can't believe I just said that." I touched a finger to the site. That wasn't pleasant, but it was bearable. I only winced and hissed in discomfort when I tried to gently rub it with my finger. "Yep, that definitely hurts. Think I'll keep that pant leg rolled up from here." So I did just that, carefully and deliberately rolling the leg to keep it from irritating my burn.

Beep beep! Josh's digivice made that little noise, so he snatched it from right out of my hand. He then informed me, "Looks like you don't need to. Firewall's open! Let's get the fuck outta here before Dylan gets trapped with us again!" I don't know what Josh did with his digivice, but next thing I knew he, I, and Shoutmon all flashed into his bedroom.

"Well, it's about damn time!" I exclaimed. Incredibly relieved, I let myself fall back onto Josh's bed. "Ho, man, wait until the guys here about this!"

I heard a door slam and snapped to sit upright like a catapult launching a stone. Josh had slammed it, and he was very serious in his expression. Also of note was that he was wearing more casual clothes, but that detail isn't so significant right now. "No. They can't know. You... I know you think you know what's happening, but we're not playing some video game. Digimon die, and their data is reloaded. Maybe they're evil, maybe they're good, but one way or another they're back. Humans, though, we die and... That's it. We're not made of data. Your leg still hurts I bet."

I shut up. He was right about that. "That's a dangerous world. Nobody should have any part of it."

"You do," I stated matter-of-factly, unamused by the theatrics.

"Dylan, you have no clue what's really at stake here, do you? What's going on? We wouldn't even be in this mess if-" Josh exhaled the rest of his breath then, but that was all that came out. He wouldn't say more. "Look, Dylan, this is all because you're our friend. You got that?"

I nodded. I really couldn't argue with that. "I know you have good intent. What I'm not sure about is whether you're taking the right action."

"Then I need you to trust me. I'm begging you here, man. You don't have a digivice. You don't have a digimon partner. Worse, you don't have any idea what you're doing. Garurumon had to rescue you from Meramon, remember?"

"Then give me one!" I exclaimed. "Give me a digivice! Gimme a digimon! You learned how to handle 'em!"

Shoutmon raised his hand then. "Uh, excuse me? Handle me? And where do you get off thinking a digimon is like a pet bunny, something you can get as a freakin' Christmas present? A human and digimon have a bond like no other, and there is nothing you can do to make that happen!" Damn, he was pissed! And he wasn't even done, either. "Who would want to be your partner, anyway? I'd feel bad for whoever got stuck with a coward like you! You talk big, and you wanna feel useful for whatever reason. But when the tough stuff comes around, you'd rather bury your head in the sand!"

Now this was going too far. "You back the fuck up right there!" I interrupted, standing my ground. "Am I a coward because I'd rather live to fight another day than lose an impossible battle? Don't forget what Josh said; I don't have a partner! There's something to be said for using your head and not your stick... thing. If I weren't there to be the bait for you all's crusade, Meramon may have gotten the drop on you and roasted you alive. Now if you wanna quit dwelling on the past, you wanna move on? I'm sure you all had to find your feet to."

Josh stepped in and held a hand out toward Shoutmon, trying to tell him to keep quiet for the moment. But he did the same to me subsequently. "Dylan, we can't just give you a digimon, okay? There's one digivice in existence for every one of us humans on the planet in this mess, and for each of those there's only a single digimon." He tossed me his digivice, and I caught it. "If you tried to make Shoutmon digivolve right now, it wouldn't work. That isn't your digivice, and you're not his human partner. Even I'm not totally sure where they come from. I just woke up one morning, and there it was on that table there. If that happened to you, we'd be talking tactics right now. But I will not let you do something this dangerous if you're not meant to."

There was no swaying my friend, and I knew it. Bradley brought me in because he was felt guilty and knew I couldn't be swayed at the time, but, sad as it was, I was starting to agree with them. For a minute or so we just stared at each other in awkward silence. I was the one to break the silence by changing the subject. "Let me know when you get your pedal fixed. Until then I guess we're working with a single kick drum in rehearsals. And I hope Jessica actually learned the bassline of 'Lies' for tomorrow."

Josh seemed pleased by this new topic, because he scoffed and smirked. "Hey, normally I'd be all for kicking her out but-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you think she's hot."

"I think? Boy, it is a fact she is hot!"

I shrugged. "Maybe being immune to the charms of women has its advantages."

Josh laughed at that quip and initiated the whole high-five-lean-in-and-hug thing. I laughed, too. But then it occurred to me, "Uh... Josh? How am I gonna tell my mother I've been missing for two days?"

But he didn't seem concerned. He just checked his phone and showed me the lock screen. "Shouldn't be too hard, man." I looked at it closely, and man. It wasn't kidding. Saturday, June 3, 9:12PM. It had only been a few hours? I decided I wasn't even going to try to understand how that happened. I went home.

I had no idea how on Earth - any Earth - I was supposed to wake up the next morning and live a normal life after that adventure. I guessed it would have to be like breathing. When I had a stuffed nose and cold I had to make a conscious effort to breathe through my mouth, but when I was well, I'd just... do it. But how would I look Josh and Bradley in the eyes again after this? How could I just write a song or watch an action movie without wanting to know about their latest exploits and feats? I guessed I would just have to settle for never getting to know.

Predictably, I didn't address my mother and father on my way up to my bedroom. Can you blame me? What would I say to them? I was hungry as shit, but I was going to wait until they were asleep to go back down and eat. I intended to turn on some loud music and drown out the past couple of days - or, apparently, hours - alone. Maybe load up a guitar backing track on Youtube and solo to it if I felt so inclined later. But as I got to the door, the verses just infected me. I softly sang to myself as I leaned against the door, "I'm not a man on a mission/But a rising anger forces me to stand and count my voice defiant.../I'm not opposed/To the process, but the facts before us demonstrate/That we must stand united..." I sighed before backing up a little and continuing, just singing softly to myself and the door, "...I know my past, I know where I came from/I won't go quietly, give in to none/I know my past, my voice makes me able/We'll come together, we will be as one..."

Maybe Shoutmon had a bit of a point, too. I sang strong words, but I sang them softly and only when I was alone. Whatever, I was supposed to be forgetting about that whole incident. So I finally got the nerve to enter my own bedroom, though I did so softly and stealthily so the folks wouldn't hear my door open and close. I turned toward the door the whole time until it was shut, and when it was I turned around to find- "Dylan!" Soon as I saw the little guy I covered his mouth to keep him quiet. Now I definitely couldn't be found out.

"Veemon!" I hissed at him, "Keep quiet." As soon as I was sure he understood, I uncovered his mouth. His eyes were wide, and he was breathing quick. Something was wrong. Besides that Veemon was in my bedroom, he was tense, maybe frightened about something. He definitely didn't look his happy-go-lucky self from before. "Veemon, what the hell are you doing here? Better yet, how did you even get here?" I wasn't angry, but I was a little frightened, too.

It didn't help my fright that the only response Veemon had was a frantic but hushed, "I don't know!"


	3. I play my first live show

What a crazy day... "Crazy" would be an understatement, really. But the adventure was over. I had to go back to normal life, and that's exactly what I intended to do once I woke up the next morning... Right after I tied up a loose end, anyway. In my regular life, Sunday was a band practice and rehearsal day, so I met up with the guys in Josh's garage.

I was a few minutes early, but knew the code to his garage door opener, so I input it and watched it rise. I arrived early to address a certain issue with Josh. Thing is, the group was already there, all talking amongst each other. This was a surprise, but a pleasant one. Jessica and Ethan were almost never on time, let alone early. "'Ey!" I greeted with a wave, walking inside, setting my shouldered guitar gig bag down, and plugging the amp I'd carried into the most convenient electrical outlet. I figured the matter would have to wait. That all went well, but it was a little off-putting how the garage went dead silent while I did that. So I tried to break the silence by asking, "So Ethan, how're those lyrics coming along? You got a title, at least?"

My singer didn't talk, and that's when it got from off-putting to creepy. I looked to Jessica and to Josh after, then, and they were quiet, too. My throat tightened a little because I was a bit anxious. "Guys... what's going on?"

Nobody answered until Jessica casually informed me, "You're out."

"I was against it!" the drummer interjected immediately, standing up from having been leaning against his drumkit. "Look, the guys-"

"You don't know the difference between a major and minor scale. You can barely remember how to play the major one on a good day," Ethan started to list, "So you can play a riff? Even write one sometimes? Great. But you can barely go on basic power chords. Minor pentatonic isn't enough all the time on soloing, either... and yes, that's what that scale is called that you do when you try to improvise. We need a guitarist who actually knows what he's doing."

I'm not gonna lie, I felt really bad about myself right after hearing that. I swallowed a lump in my throat and took a breath to try and keep calm, even if that didn't actually make me feel better. "Fine." I stared daggers at Josh. "Josh, we need to talk."

"Hey, man, I offered to teach you all that theory stuff, but they got-"

"Not about the band. Do you remember that theme park you were talking about yesterday? Digital World?" That got his attention.

Josh glared back at me, but at least he acknowledged me. Without a word he grabbed me by the arm (with a very firm grip, mind you) and pulled me into the hallway connecting to his garage, slamming the door behind him. "That crap there? That ain't funny. I'm not having this conversation again."

"No? Then have an even more important one." I peered down the hallway for a possible eavesdropper. Clear. "There's a you-know-what in my bedroom." Josh crossed his arms and kept quiet, so I guess that wasn't enough information. I lowered my voice and practically breathed, "A digimon!"

"Dylan, if you're making shit up-"

"Do I look like I'm making this up?" I was anxious again, and much more so than earlier. So I was speaking in a breathy but loud tone. "I met Veemon during the village op, but I didn't know where he went. I also don't know how the hell he ended up in my house, but according to him, the last thing he remembers is watching my back before... well, poof! There he was buried under a pile of my clothes!"

"...Dylan-"

"I'm not making this up! Now tell me what's going on and help me get him home!"

Josh didn't respond to me then. He kept silent and just stared like he was lost in thought for a couple minutes. But when he reached his conclusion, whatever it was, he held out a hand to tell me to stay put and opened the garage door to shout at the other two, "Rehearsal's cancelled! Come back tomorrow!" before shutting it abruptly, not waiting for an answer. He had me follow him then, and when we rounded a corner he called calmly, "Shoutmon?"

"Right with ya." Apparently he had been just around that corner eavesdropping... and I was lucky it was him and not a family member. Maybe I wasn't moving fast enough, because once more I found myself dragged by the arm to Josh's room.

"You know I was gonna follow you either way, right?"

After Josh shut the door with his foot he finally got down to business. "Dylan, I think I know what happened. The firewall is collapsing." Aaaaaaaand, that was it. Seriously. He thought that would sum up the entire situation and make it all clear. I waited a bit for him to continue, but he didn't. He was just waiting for me to react.

"Uh... great. What's the firewall? You mentioned it a couple times, but you never told me what it is. You don't mean the thing computers use to keep viruses out, do you?"

"Shoutmon?" Shoutmon handed me a piece of paper off of Josh's desk.

"Alright, listen up." I looked at the paper, and apparently it was already prepared. Maybe this had to be explained to Josh or Brad before? That was my best guess, anyway. There was a crude pencil drawing of two circles and a dotted line between them. "This is your world." That circle was drawn rather more crudely and odd than its digital world counterpart. Knowing him, I'm not sure that was an accident. "And this is the digital world. This line between is the firewall. Ideally, it looks like this." Shoutmon filled in the dotted line to make a whole straight line. "The firewall keeps the two worlds separate, one not interfering with the other. Nothing gets in or out of each universe." He used the pencil to once more erase some spaces. "This is what it looks like now. There are a couple holes but mostly solid. Still, something can sneak through those holes if you time it right."

"Like we did on our way in and out of the digital world," I related in the attempt to either show understanding or prompt clarification in the lack of it.

"Exactly." Guess I was spot on. "But you know how if a balloon is in a vacuum, if there's a hole in the balloon, all the air gets sucked out into the vacuum?" That was way too specific an example. Shoutmon had to have explained this before. "That's probably what happened to Veemon. And you'd better be happy he ended up at your place. He could have gone anywhere in the universe. Literally." Oh, man. I didn't even want to think about that. "So, when the firewall opens up, we'll send him home. In the meantime... well, I guess he's your problem!"

I huffed at Shoutmon. "Well, I appreciate your grave concern for his well-being and my sanity. Putting that aside for a moment, what happened to the firewall? Why is it collapsing?"

Josh was quick to say his piece. "That's not your problem. Leave that kinda thing to the professionals." I don't think he meant to be condescending, but I did feel a little like I was being excluded from a party or something. Like how I felt when I thought Bradley and Josh were making plans without me. Or how I felt when I found out they really were making plans without me. Or how I felt when I found out Josh was going on with the band without me. Business as usual, I guess.

"Alright, fine. New question: why wait? What happens if you try to cross over while the firewall's there?"

"Brad tried that once," Josh explained, "He says it didn't go well. At best, you just bounce right back."

"And at worst?"

"You don't." Josh didn't elaborate beyond that voluntarily, and I wasn't sure I wanted to make him.

"Fine. Should I bring Veemon by or something?"

Josh scoffed. "Pffff. Yeah, right! I have enough trouble keeping this one a secret. Shoutmon was right. That's your problem."

I crossed my arms. "I'd think if I'm babysitting an alien, you could at least fight a little harder to keep me in the band." I wanted something for my troubles, at least. Besides, I didn't want to have to hunt for a whole new band. It was hard enough the first time.

Josh frowned at me when I mentioned that. "Not my call, man. I tried. But I think you knew it was coming." I think he was telling the truth. He was a good enough guy.

"...yeah, I did," I confessed. "Fine. I'm beating a dead horse. Let me know as soon as the firewall opens up, okay?"

Well, Sunday was definitely a day of hoping that the folks wouldn't take a surprise visit to my bedroom for a cleanliness inspection. I didn't understand why they still did that, anyway. It's not like I'd ever pass. I suspect they had all but given up yet still tried anyway just so they could tell themselves they were holding up their end as parents. But hey, I could be addicted to drugs or flunking all my classes, and I just can't keep a room clean. Heh, they should be prouder of me.

I think Veemon was in my parents' camp, though. "Yeesh, no wonder you wear those things on your feet!" he exclaimed at me when I had returned to my room, "I can barely walk without stepping on your clothes! What did Joshua say?"

"Very little that we didn't figure out ourselves," I muttered dejectedly, shutting the door silently behind me. "Josh says he doesn't know when we can get you home. So, until then, it looks like you're a house guest. A secret house guest. So, make yourself comfortable."

Veemon looked uncomfortable. I couldn't blame him. As he looked away from me and grabbed each of his upper arms nervously, I could empathize with the ordeal he was going through. It just happened to me yesterday... except I had friends with me. Veemon was alone. Still, the next words out of his mouth surprised me. "I didn't mean this. I don't want to be an intruder or a responsibility."

You see that there? That's the mark of a good guy. He's the victim, and he knows it, and his first concern is watching out for others. I wish I was so noble. That just makes it more painful when someone like that is in such a bind, and that just made me feel like I had to help more. "Relax. Let's just be happy we found each other again, okay? I didn't get to know you too well before. Maybe I'll get to now."

His eyes lightened, and he smiled a little. Knowing him, he would have smiled a lot more if he had actually believed I was happy to have him. But he also knew I didn't blame him and would try to make the best of it. Where to start on entertaining my guest was an easy solution. "Do they have guitars in the digital world?"

Veemon looked at me like I asked if Digimon fart unicorns. "Uh... No? What's that? Can I eat it?"

Jackpot!

I spent the next hour or so talking about my guitars, other people's guitars, famous guitars, crappy guitars, how they work, how one of mine doesn't work, yadda, yadda, yadda. If you don't care for music it was boring, and if you don't know anything about guitars it was overwhelming, maybe even frustrating. I thought I was just talking to fill time and Veemon wanted me to shut up, but when he started asking more questions, I'm not gonna lie, it made me feel good. "Why does that one have seven strings? How come this one has a hole in it?"

Man, maybe the guys were right, and I don't want to go to the digital world. They must not have much music there. We went on to a demonstration of different amp settings and effects - supplemented by youtube videos of songs I like - and then we were really cooking. I showed him Donegan, Freeman, Hendrix, Santana, and every other guitarist I admired. I really thought I had him hooked. When I started busting out "Dark Chest of Wonders" on my Schecter, Veemon's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. It was a shame I just lost my chance to make that happen for a living. Would have been nice.

Oh, crap.

Veemon knew something was wrong when I quit playing for no apparent reason, kicked the amp switch with my foot, and put my guitar back on the wall. His eyes asked what was wrong on their own. "I was kicked out of my band today," I explained, elaborating with, "All I ever wanted was to make a difference in the world, and I used to think music would be my medium for that. I've been in denial for the past few years of realizing that dream is dead, and now I've just received a reminder."

Veemon's sympathy was genuine. Everything about him seemed to be, really. You can't really comfort someone whose dreams were just crushed - again - but that didn't stop the blue Digimon from trying. I'm not ashamed to say that was the day I cried in the arms of a Digimon... okay, that's a lie. I'm a little ashamed. But I'm trying to stick to the truth here, and that happened.

Dinner in my house wasn't really a say-grace-and-conversate sort of occasion, but at least they sat down and ate at the same, even if two among my parents and sister were on the couch watching TV while the other sat on a barstool at the counter - also watching TV, probably. But when autism gives you such severe diet issues as I have, nobody cares when you eat as pon as you do, since you don't eat what the family is eating anyway. That's how easy it was for me to steal food for Veemon when dinner rolled around and we got hungry.

Two fluffernutters, one in each hand, were my cargo on my way back to my bedroom. But just as my hand touched my doorknob someone said to me, "Oh, hello there." My head snapped to the right, where a window looked to my vast front yard and the setting sun. It was open, which it shouldn't have been because we never open windows. I moved to shut it but just as I was about to touch the sill I felt a tap on the shoulder.

When you consider how the past couple days have been, I think I can be forgiven for reacting like the victim of a jump scare. Unfortunately I dropped the fluffernutters out the window, but fortunately a paw grabbed my hand before I followed them down! "Well, you're a jumpy one, aren't you?" its owner asked. It seemed amused. The voice was low, but it was also unmistakably female.

Oh, yeah, it was a Digimon alright. "Most digidestined I've come across were at least a little more courageous than that." Well, I'm not digidestined, so I guess it was totally okay for me to be frightened of the Digimon. She reminded me of a furry fox, or anthromorph, or whatever the term is. I'd never seen a golden fox before, though, and not one who wore purple forearm bracers.

"Uh, I think you got the wrong guy. I'm no digidestined." Well, looked like my adventure wasn't quite over. Bradley and Josh wanted me to stay out of this affair, but circumstances kept sucking me back in!

"Oh?" The Digimon tilted her head curiously. "Then what are you doing with a Digimon in the next room?" Uh, creepy. That observation had 'stalker' written all over it.

"Babysitting," I spat. "Can I help you? You're making it real had to stay out of things."

The Digimon scoffed. "What a selfish attitude. Thinking you can shirk your responsibilities just because you don't want them."

"You don't know anything about me or why I'm in my position. I don't know what or when the selection process for the Defender of Two Universes job was, but apparently I was not in the running."

"And you believe because you were not called upon that you may let both worlds fall?"

"What do you want me to do," I asked in a snarky tone, getting quite annoyed with this creature, "Rebuild the firewall?"

"Yes." She wasn't kidding. With a face like that I was not sure if I'd know when she was kidding, but then she obviously wasn't. I think. "Don't think you can't do good for others - or yourself, if that's more important - just because you weren't fated for it." I became 99% certain I was speaking to a psycho at that point, because the Digimon took her leave then - and dived right out the second-floor window to make her exit!

I peered over the windowsill to try and spot her, but it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack - when the needle wasn't even there. Still weirder than that was a distant call from her, "I'll be watching you!" before the sunset went silent. It was like she was toying with me. Now I was just hoping more that the firewall would open, and I could put this mess behind me. Ideally, yes, I would get a digivice and Digimon be able to save the world, but I knew that wouldn't happen. So, the former scenario would have been my solace.

Two messy splats of sandwiches on the concrete walkway below reminded me Veemon was waiting on me. I was gonna need some more fluffernutters.

Me up in my bedroom playing guitar for hours on end is not a cause for suspicion in my house. Once Veemon's belly was full he seemed content to listen to me playing the guitar the rest of the night. For his entertainment's sake I tried to include a variety of styles, but I of course leaned heavily towards metal. Most of it was songs written by others. Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, All That Remains, Killswitch Engage, and Nightwish were all in the mix along with many others.

That ran out eventually, so I had to dive into my own material. I can't imagine Veemon would have known the difference between my work and others', but I could have sworn by the look on his face and the kicking of his legs he was feeling a little something in his soul when I was playing something from mine. For the songs of mine with lyrics, I'd sing. Let's just say there's a very good reason I wasn't my band's frontman, but that didn't stop me. Singing my song "Lies" was particularly emotional for me as I did it.

"LIES! Lose yourself, lose it all, build it up, take the fall/Tuth fades away/CRY, for you no longer know what's real and what's just for show/Black and white blurs to gray!" Shame I'd have to not only be living a lie myself from here on but have to tolerate two of my friends doing the same. The chorus ripped in after that thought. "Feed the serpent, or it dies/Blind us all, or strip the disguise/Haze makes waste, realize/Kill the angel, choke it on the LIES!" I'd love to go into all the metaphors and symbolism, but A) I bet a lot of it is straightforward with little thought required, and B) I bet I'm the only one who actually cares anyway.

I kept on playing the end riff of that song, though and started experimenting with some variations. If I liked it, I kept it. If I didn't, I forgot it. Even Veemon's hand was visibly keeping a tempo with me. Now I was rockin'! I let go a bit, just allowing the music to write itself. It poured right from my soul rather than a mixture of thought and time. I could practically feel it in my bones, each note I-

"Dylan!" Veemon wasn't excited. He was frightened. His body began to glow. I may have seen that glow only once previously, but I recognized it. Of course, I made the mistake of being all calm about it, thinking Veemon was digivolving backwards and becoming a smaller, weaker creature. After all, that's what happened the first time I saw the light. But Veemon's body didn't shrink. It grew.

By the time he was done he was a fair bit taller than me. Boy, now that was a growth spurt. Unlike Gabumon and Garurumon, despite appearing slightly more humanoid in form, this new form of Veemon's wasn't changed all that much. However, it did come with some new gear I didn't see him bring with him. His feet were covered by some metal plates that only exposed his razor claws. Knee plates and a chest plate also looked like they provided extra protection while two armored gauntlets didn't look like something I'd want to get hit by. To top it all off, literally, was the mask that covered the top half of his now lizard-like face. All in all he looked like a knight in shining, flame-patterned armor.

Naturally, I snapped a picture. It's not like I was going to put that on the internet, but it seemed like something Bradley and Josh would like to know. So I began a group iMessage chat with the pair and sent the picture with the note, "Remember when you said I need a digivice to make Digimon Digivolve?" Once the urgent business was taken care of I turned to the digivolved 'mon standing on a pile of my dirty clothes and asked, "How did that just happen? What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" the digimon formerly known as Veemon shot back. Hell, apparently his voice changed, too. It went from that babyish, slightly impeded timbre to a low, smooth one with perfect diction. And he sure didn't seem unhappy about the change. "What did you do?" he asked as he admired his new body.

Suddenly I got defensive and naturally retorted, "I didn't do anything either!" But I wasn't quite sure about that. Was it possible for Digimon to digivolve on their own? If not, what did I do? It's not like I had a digivice. Although, to be safe I spent the next few minutes searching for one just because I'm neurotic like that. Obviously I came up short.

But that's when I got a return text from Josh. "brad and me r cmng ovr. now." Man, they must have been getting frustrated with how much trouble I was turning out to be. I couldn't blame them, I guess.


	4. My acrophobia gets vindicated

"Flamedramon."

"Gesundheit."

Bradley smacked the back of my head. I don't think he found my joke funny. Oh, well. At least I did. "That's his name. But damn... I really don't get how you pulled this one off."

"That makes two of us," I concorded.

"Five, actually. Six if we include Flamedramon himself," Gabumon corrected. "Dylan, I don't think you understand the full implications of what you've done!"

Oh, that was just typical. I don't understand, I don't understand. "Tell me where I'm lost. A digimon digivolved without a digivice, and you're supposed to need a digivice for that. Does that not cover it all?"

"Not even close," Josh began to explain as he pointed at Flamedramon - rude - , "This isn't regular digivolution." Josh didn't finish, but Gabumon stepped in to fill in for him. Heh, my guess is Josh just didn't know what it was.

"It's called armor digivolution," Gabumon told me. "It's an ancient form of digivolution from before our worlds met. Long before. For this type of digivolution it wouldn't matter if you had a digivice or not. But it would require you to have something even more rare."

Now that caught my interest. "Even more rare than a digivice? A one-in-existence-per-destined machine?"

"Yes," Gabumon went on, either not registering my disbelieving tone or forgiving it, "It requires an object called a digiegg. When a digimon and digiegg meet, it attains a form it couldn't normally take. Flamedramon shouldn't have been able to digivolve at all, but he certainly shouldn't have been able to digivolve into this! You would need the digiegg of courage - and there's only one in existence!"

I heard glass break, and my head snapped in its direction to find the thankfully empty glass of water I had brought up for Flamedramon on the ground in five pieces, the digimon himself expressing sheepish body language. "Sorry... tail's longer than I'm used to." But damn, he scared me. I was a little afraid that fox digimon had broken in again or something. And when I noted that, I made a second note to bring that up before the guys left.

Shoutmon summed it all up with, "Look, basically, something impossible happened... twice."

"Here's my question, then:" I advanced, "What do we do now? How do we proceed?" Bradley looked at Joshua. Josh looked at Brad. Then they each looked at their respective digimon. The digimon looked at each other. "Oh, this is rich. It looks like the geniuses are finally in uncharted territory. Why don't you ask that knight Digimon I saw right after my little episode. What'd you call him again?"

Looks were exchanged again. I think they were surprised I knew of him. "You saw him?" Yep, nailed it. Thank you, Shoutmon.

"Not much of him," I admitted, "Just before he disappeared as I was coming to." It sounds like I was trying to clarify my experience, but really I was trying to pull on the guilt strings of the digimon who hit me. Oh, well. It accomplished the first aim either way.

"He's called Gallantmon," Brad then went on to clarify me. "He's kind of our... I wanna say leader, but not really. He doesn't do much. He kinda gives us advice sometimes, helps out a bit, but we don't see much of him. Everything we know, he told us."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Well, perfect. Then I think that's our course of action. When the firewall opens, you guys consult Gallantmon." Nods and expressions of acknowledgement began to circulate. "See? I'm not completely useless!" Bradley's response to that was particularly telling. He smirked confidently and inclined his head in the drummer's direction in a sort of arrogant manner. I wondered if he hadn't been making that very argument before now. "It only sucks that we don't know when it'll open back up. What's the time frame on that, anyway?"

Josh shrugged. "Depends. Used to be for a small window every day, but with the wall getting more damaged over time, it's harder to say. It should have opened at least once by now, but no. Nothing."

I crossed my arms and huffed. "Well, that's just convenient!" I exclaimed in a little frustration. "It better be a long opening when it does come around, then. Give you time to come right back. But I'm not sure how long I can go with all these mysteries piling on top of each other. I wish you could just go already."

Josh shrugged again and spread his arms. "I don't know what to tell you, man! It's not like we-" Beep beep! Two quick little beeps, and two digidestined boys extracted two digivices from their two pockets and, twice more, exchanged two confused glances. "...it's open," was Josh's eloquent, level-headed response.

Bradley was a little more practical. He grabbed Josh and started tapping away at his own screen. But then I was surprised when he grabbed me next. Luckily, I had the reflexes to grab Flamedramon's arm before the portal or vortex or whatever whisked us all away. Next thing I knew... I was feeling more acrophobic than I'd ever felt in my life.

Okay, so floating rocks I was able to eventually handle. Rock digimon threw me for a loop a little, but I got over it. But now I was standing on a floating island... and I wasn't far from the edge. No, the dumbass device thought it would be funny to teleport me with one foot almost over the edge and the other only halfway on it! Everything seems to move in slow motion when you're about to die, and that's an evolutionary advantage. It means you can make decisions relatively faster. But no decision could save me. I only had time to note that a thick sheet of clouds was beneath me, which meant that when I finally lost my balance and fell, it would be a long way down. But maybe I was wrong about no decision being able to save me. I think the only reason I survived to tell this story is because I was still gripping Flamedramon's arm. While it seemed like a while to me because my mind saw things in slow motion, Flamedramon was aware enough to yank his arm back and pull me backwards. I still fell, but I fell two feet flat on my ass, rather than who-knows-how-far onto a bed of spikes for all I knew. "God damn... Can I just make the choice not to be affected by gravity or something? All these rocks sure can!"

"You already did, actually. Look up," Bradley snickered. I thought he was bullshitting me, but when I looked up I was even dizzier than when I had looked down. I expected to see more clouds, or open sky if there were none. What I did not expect to see was grass and trees and canyons and mountains. Yeah, I was not only on a floating island fucking upside-down! Man, I had to lie down - or did I have to lie up? - for a moment before I was able to accept that one.

When I was finally able to stand up - stand down? - I sincerely thanked Flamedramon, "Thanks a lot. You saved my life there." I think I might have been a bit formal about it, and that's really not in my character, but I've never had such a near-death experience before. Sure, Meramon would have roasted me, but I wouldn't have seen it or known it.

Flamedramon shrugged modestly. "It's nothin'. Friends just do that, right?"

Brad clapped me on the back. "Sorry for the sudden grab. I figured we'd better bring you along this time. Might help Gallantmon to see you or something. I dunno." I think Joshua was about to protest, but he couldn't come up with one. Maybe he believed Brad had a decent point. Now that I was up and actually looking at the guys, I noted their clothes changed again back to the exact outfits they had the last time we teleported. So I asked about it. Brad could only shrug. "I dunno. It just happens. Once we ended up on a freezing mountain top, and we got winter boots and heavy jackets."

Well, there they were all decked out and ready to rock, while I was in sneakers, plain jeans, and a Megadeth T-shirt. In a world where nobody knew who Megadeth was. Wow, what a terrible world. Even Flamedramon had his kickass armor, Gabumon had his pelt, and Shoutmon had his microphone thing. I felt out of place like, not to be racist or sexist or anything, but it reminded me of how I felt one time when for a class assignment I was the one white male working with five black females. But I swear I'm not racist or sexist or anything.

"Okay, then here's the big question weighing on my mind: where's Gallantmon?" Silence. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me. Okay, you don't know. What do you know?"

"We know he's close," Bradley tried to salvage.

"And how do we know that?"

"Because the digivice put us here," Bradley explained, "Somehow, it just seems to put us where we need to be, when we need to be there. I dunno how it works, but it does." Well, boy, that was convenient.

"Maybe that's something else to ask Gallantmon. Hey, even if we don't find him, at least we got Flamedramon home, right?" I pointed at him over my shoulder with a thumb and grinned at him. He inclined his head back at me. I couldn't help being happy for him, really. Like I said, I could empathize. But then I remembered, "Oh, shshshshshshit... Guys? I think we forgot something." I tried to avoid cursing, but that it sound just forced itself out. Oh, well. "There's another digimon back on Earth. Or whatever our universe is called. Doesn't seem right to name it after just that one planet."

Josh held out an arm and approached me apprehensively. "Dylan, that ain't funny. If you're-"

"Oh, it's not funny? Then I guess it's a good thing I'm not kidding! Hey, it's not like I invited her. She actually climbed right up and in through my window! She left before you guys came, though." I watched facepalms, groans, and other looks of frustrated disbelief circulate around the crew.

Except for Flamedramon. He just looked shocked. "What? Another one? Why didn't you tell me? You could have been in danger!"

I scoffed at that being his concern. "No argument here. What was I thinking, interacting with a strange digimon I'd never met before?" was my sarcastic quip. I don't think Flamedramon was amused, though. He just narrowed his eyes beneath his mask. "She didn't hurt me. I'm not sure what she did want, though. It was weird. But she told me I should be more involved in whatever you all do, which means she knows what that is. Had this whole ninja stalker feel to her."

Josh did something on his digivice and just ordered me, "Describe her."

So, I did. "Gold fur. Definitely vulpine."

"What?"

"It means fox. Two yin-yang-like symbols down by the knees. A little shorter than Flamedramon. Uh... Long purple gloves that cover the forearms-"

"Got it." Josh turned his device around to show me a perfect picture of her. "That her?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Well, the good news is any digivolved Digimon could take her down any day. That was Renamon. Rookie level."

"Does that mean she's weak?"

Bradley jumped in, "Kind of. It means she's weaker than Garurumon or Flamedramon or..." he looked to Shoutmon, "Whatever you're supposed to digivolve into. And she's about even with their Rookie forms. But what the hell was she doing in the real world?"

"Hey!" Shoutmon shouted indignantly, "My world's real, too, you know!"

"Yeah, but we don't have another name for mine, so we're sticking with that right now."

"Yeah, I dunno how she got there," I informed the rest, "But she sure didn't seem homesick. I'd bet she's sticking around intentionally. But I wouldn't know why. I don't suppose your sage would no the answer to that one?"

"Doubt it. He's not God or anything."

I decided not to point out, "No one is." Not the time or place. "Well, my guess is we're gonna have to search the island. It doesn't look huge. I think if we spread out we get decent eyes everywhere while staying within shouting distance of each other, but that's a risk I'd rather avoid if it's an option. So, we need a way to efficiently explore the area without splitting up."

I thought I was finally proving my worth by pitching plans, but Josh countered, "No, we don't," before he once more shoved his digivice in my hand. "What we need is a vantage point. Look at that." Most of the group crowded around me to see the map Joshua had pulled up. He reached in and traced a circle with his finger, which left a red line where he marked it. Man, I want one more every time I see it used. "That's not a hill or mountain. That's a tree. That one there." Josh pointed again, and as I followed his gaze... damn. That was one big tree. Reminded me of Home Tree from the movie Avatar, and it was smack dab in the middle of the floating island according to the map.

"That's... really risky," was my opinion of that plan. "You're counting on us all being able to climb that thing, assuming there's an accessible way up at all, a fall from that height would not be a fun experience."

Bradley shook his head, showing he favored the plan. "No, he's not. Only one guy's gotta go up there, and he doesn't even have to go all the way. Just enough to see around. Besides, it'll probably be one of the Digimon. They're bigger and stronger than us, at least when they digiolve."

I couldn't argue with that. I was also more willing to accept the plan when I was at no personal risk. "Well, let's think about the evolutions. Garurumon. I imagine strong jumping legs would be an advantage, but his paws can't grip anything. Shoutmon... actually, what does Shoutmon digivolve into?"

Josh and Shoutmon exchanged a nervous glance. I was afraid of the answer they were going to give simultaneously before it even came out, and my fears were justified. "We don't know!" Josh elaborated, "Shoutmon... he won't digivolve for some reason. It's like he can't. We don't know why, and, no, Gallantmon didn't know either. He can't digivolve for us." Shoutmon suddenly became much more introverted, and all of a sudden I felt a lot more sympathy for the guy. He was rude and snarky, but he was also incapable. Sure, that's not exactly a redeeming quality, but it made him more similar to me in my mind. All of it did, really.

I moved on after resolving that thought sequence. "So that leaves Garurumon and..." I looked to Flamedramon. "How agile are you?"

"Uh... can't hurt to find out." The lizard-like digimon curled his tail up, crouched low with his knees bent, and sprang like he was shot out of a god damn cannon! I put him at at least least three stories high, maybe more at his peak! And on his way down he knew he wouldn't land on his feet without injury and had the foresight to end on a tuck-and-roll. "Whoa! How did I just do that?"

And that, kids, is the story of how we chose which of us would climb Home Tree. The end.

Bradley handed me his digivice when we finally reached the base of the tree, and let me tell you... damn... I've seen thinner, shorter skyscrapers during trips to Boston. "What's this for?"

Brad gave me a quizzical look. "What do you mean, what's it for? It's a long way up. Or down, since we're upside-down. Or is that all upside-down? Whatever, we wanna know what you see while you see it. That thing is a mountain! It's not like we'll hear you shout up there. So you gotta use the digivice."

"Uh... are you forgetting Flamedramon is the one going up there, not me?"

"What, are you crazy? You wanna send a digimon in without his partner?" Josh smiled with his arms crossed as he inclined his head. Immediately I thought he was mocking me. But all of a sudden all eyes were on me. Bradley looked at me expectantly, Gabumon flashed me a toothy grin and clawed thumbs up, and even Shoutmon shrugged like he couldn't find any objection. Whoa, what a turnaround. I looked over my shoulder at Flamedramon, who smirked at me confidently and held up a fist in solidarity. I think there was only one logical course of action to take given the circumstances.

"...I won't do it." I said logical, not expected or favored. Confidence among the lot turned to surprise, and not a pleasant one. It looked like I'd have to explain myself. "I'm not his partner! You all said so yourself! You really think I'm somehow qualified to make this death-defying climb just because Veemon digivolved in my bedroom? That could have been pure coincidence for all we know." My throat was tightening, and I felt every muscle in my face tensing.

Shoutmon, ever the most opinionated of us, called me out instantly. "What the hell's wrong with you? First you practically beg to jump right into the fight, and then when we give you that chance you wanna back out? What were you expecting? Did you think you'd just have to make the occasional visit, maybe beat up a bully half your size, and then be called a hero? Hell, no! But you know what? I'm glad we told you to back off, and I'm glad you want to. If you could really walk away from your friends so fast without any guilt in your heart, you were never fit to be digidestined in the first place! Thank whatever the force is that chose them that you were not a blight on their pride, and Flamedramon there wouldn't have to put up with you!"

When we use the word "humiliate," we usually mean something closer to "embarrass" or "shame." But the word "humiliate" doesn't actually mean what we think it means. The word "humility" more or less means "humbleness," which I'd call a virtue. So when we say someone has been "humiliated," we're bringing that person down off of his or her high horse and giving that person a reality check, which is only the right thing to do.

Shoutmon absolutely humiliated me. Gabumon's look at him showed me he did not approve of Shoutmon's harsh words, but he was a little mixed. He knew their message was a necessary one. Josh only flinched a little, which meant he somewhat saw that coming. Perhaps agreed wholeheartedly, too. Bradley, ironically enough, was closer to a voice of reason. "Look, we don't know if you somehow made him digivolve or not, but a human's gotta go. Only a human can use a digivice." But then he leaned in and scrutinized me. "I don't think you want to save the world. I think you want to feel important. Same reason you wanna be a musician. You like the idea of lots of credit for not a lot of work." Ouch! "And that's okay. But we got more important things at stake right now. You gotta do this, man. You wanna feel important? Well, I don't see you in a band right now-" Son of a bitch! Did he really have to remind me? "-so this is your best bet. All you gotta do is climb a tree. Hell, maybe Gallantmon's up there waiting for ya for all we know."

All those character questions would have stung like needles if they were wrong. But they were right, so they stung much worse than that.

"Don't think you can't do good for others just because you weren't fated for it." Renamon said that to me, and right about then her voice was echoing off the walls of my skull. I almost believed it would escape through my ears, and the others would hear it, too. I think there may have been several interpretations of her words now. The most obvious is the literal: that I have the ability even though even though I haven't been called upon. But there was more to that, I now saw. I firmly believe that a person who may do good must do good. In that sense, she wasn't encouraging me. She was chastising me because I hadn't fulfilled a moral obligation.

Yet there was still more to it than that. She used the word "fated." Naturally, I don't believe in such a thing as destiny or fate, but I sure wasn't showing it. I've been treating my defeat, failure, like a given circumstance when it's not truly set in stone. I feared attempt, work, not out of sloth but fear of failure. Because I wasn't guaranteed to succeed, and I knew it. But I also forgot I wasn't destined for failure either. Either I forgot or I didn't care. That's the sense in which it was encouragement.

I was then breathing deeply consciously not as a method of calming myself - that wasn't going to work - but because if I didn't take control I would have been hyperventilating. I knew my obligation, and I knew I may succeed. That wasn't exactly encouraging to me, but I had what I had. "Okay." I pocketed the machine. "Flamedramon? I'll climb with you."

Only Flamedramon reacted enthusiastically at all with an approving nod. The rest just huffed or otherwise became less tense. There was no need for ceremony, though. Like Renamon said, I was only fulfilling an obligation. Now I was even more curious about her, and I can't say I felt good about being manipulated by her. But at least I could take comfort in doing the right thing for once in my life.

Yay for me, I guess.

"But damn..." I looked up at the tree. I couldn't see the top. I'm not even sure if I could see the 1/8 mark. "If this thing doesn't take a whole day or more to scale, it'll take several hours, I bet." I was false and sarcastic when I concluded, "I guess being a challenge means I just get to laugh that much harder when I make it," but I almost believed it when it was out. "I shoulda brought more fluffanutters. We're gonna get hungry."

"Check this out." Joshua extracted his digivice from his pocket and used whatever function that stored all his camping stuff to suck up his jacket. "You see the flashing yellow button? Push that." I did, and I was blinded when my drummer's - my former drummer's - jacket flew up into my face.

After I removed the jacket from my face I handed it to Joshua and had to remark, "Okay, that's pretty cool." At least I wouldn't want for supplies - granted Joshua had them on hand. For some reason all the other guys were giving me weird looks, though. "What? Is something in my teeth?"

"Yes, but that's not the important thing. I just proved you're what made Flamedramon digivolve. Probably. Kind of." That seemed like a big claim to make over a little magic trick, so I modified my expression to express my skepticism. "Dylan, you remember when I told you before if you tried to use my digivice it wouldn't work? I turned on the communication for you before, but that was all you. There's definitely something weird about you."

Well, shit! That was a scary thought! I already felt like a pariah as a gay, autistic atheist, but now I was supposed to be a gay, autistic atheist with superpowers? Yeah, right. I decided not to think too hard about that. It would be Gallantmon's job to figure that stuff out, not mine.

So we would climb, Flamedramon and I. Hopefully get a step closer to finding Gallantmon while we were at it, too. "Well..." I looked back up at the titanic tree, becoming a little dizzy as I did so. "...This should be fun." I wondered what Renamon would say if she was watching. 


	5. I learn quests are harder in real life

So there were Flamedramon and I, just embarking in a noble quest worthy of the most highest ranking glory-seeking knights of yore. I and my faithful outerworldly companion had embarked on a daunting climb in pursuit of wisdom and guidance by the old wise man at the summit, Gallantmon, the highest of the knights. Our quest was a-

Oh, who am I kidding? It sucked.

The lowest few branches were so far off the ground Flamedramon had to get me up them by jumping up ahead of me, lying down flat, and offering me an outstretched arm that I had to jump and grab in order to be pulled up. I guess it worked okay, but the scratch marks on my arms because of it made me look like I had a self-harm problem. Something like 30 feet up I was already tired of the climb. I called down to the guys, "Hey! You guys got climbing gear by any chance?" As I leaned against the tree's trunk for support. Not that I needed it. The branches were so thick I could have parked two, three buses there if I felt so inclined to park buses in a digital world tree.

"Climbing gear is for people who fall!" was Josh's joking response, and since I didn't get any after, I figured the real answer was no.

So I nodded to Flamedramon, and we continued on. I thought a twig - by comparison, at least - was within jumping distance, but I couldn't quite reach it. I didn't fall either, though. Flamedramon had crouched a bit and stuck his armored hands under my feet to push me up the rest of the way. Once I was up, on it, he just managed to jump up there himself. I gave him a look of appreciation but said nothing aloud. My justification was that I'm sure there would be plenty of cause for it as the climb went on, so saying the same two words over and over would get redundant real fast. I put us about forty feet up by that point, but before my counterpart would boost me to the next branch he suggested to me, "Let's just go up a bit more. Then take a break."

Sure, going straight up is tiring on the human body, but we had only been climbing for something like three minutes. I was ready to keep rocking for a while longer. I didn't think Flamedramon was tired out either. He hadn't even broken a sweat, and not just because his body was reptilian in nature and didn't have sweat glands. But I didn't object. Nearer to the base of the tree the branches were thick and differed greatly in height - or should I say altitude since we're dealing with such crazy heights - which meant finding passage from one to the next was a tall order. Each branch has many twigs and limbs coming off from it and perhaps a few more from those. Flamedramon and I may have walked up and down the length of a branch just to find something in grabbing or jumping distance. We must have spent half our time on the way up just trying to find the right paths

It actually got so bad at a few points that I thought we were stuck. Flamedramon could advance, sure, but when the next limb is 20 feet up, him jumping up and giving me a lift was not going to do the trick. "Alright, let's stop and think about this," I suggested aloud. "We may just have to backtrack a bit and find another route. Or maybe..." I looked at Bradley's digivice. Now that I did I noticed its design was different from Josh's. Instead of red, it was this yellow color all over. Since Josh had something on the back of his, I checked and, yep, there was a logo in the shape of a wolf claw. Boy, did that fit.

But I was really inspecting it for its inventory. The buttons were all different colors, and the yellow one before seemed to access the inventory, or whatever the function's real name is, I pushed it. The screen came to life, and all the stuff Bradley had stored was displayed in a grid fashion. The tent I saw before was among them. "Seriously? This guy has a pair of nail clippers here?" I grumbled, "And no rope? Thanks a lot!"

My companion just shrugged like that was no big deal. "No problem. Here," he invited before he turned away from me and bent his back over. I thought he was preparing to spring again, but he didn't. He just looked over his shoulder expectantly. "Something wrong?"

"Seriously?" was my skeptical response. "You want me to..." I didn't finish that thought because, well, it wasn't all that intelligent. It was better left forgotten. I was about to object on the grounds that such a thing was rather an odd and unusual offer as if that somehow mattered in this situation. I guess I was still having some trouble getting into noble quest mode. "Nevermind. We gotta do something, right?" So I did it. I wrapped my arms around the base of Flamedramon's neck and wrapped my legs around his abdomen, though I tried to be careful about it since he wasn't armored there. For extra stability, Flamedramon held me up by my rear. Yeah, that's right. I was going to get a piggy back ride from a digimon.

Add that to the list of sentences I thought I'd never say in my lifetime.

I rode a horse once at the state fair, and it was one of the scariest experiences of my life. I was surprised to find how unsteady a ride horses actually were, or so was my opinion. But I could have acclimated to it if just when I was getting used to things, the horse got spooked or angry or pissed or something and tried to go into a trot. Its trainer stopped it before it could get going, but I wasn't the one in control of the situation. Whether I lived or died - so what if I was never really going to die? - was up purely to circumstances outside my influence. Since then I'd foregone any animal rides.

By the way, it turns out I dug my heels into the horse's sides without meaning to, and that's what set it off. So it was my fault, but still.

I can't say I felt any better about being carried by Flamedramon. Let me tell you, that was a way rougher ride than a fair pony. When he jumped, it jolted me and gave me a sort of roller coaster-ride experience (I won't tell you the anecdote right now, but know I was smart enough to fear roller coasters both before and after riding one). He bent his knees as he landed, reducing the shock but still causing me to make a sound of surprise involuntarily. And I did it again as he, despite my expectations to be let down, used his superior agility to get us to the next branch up. And the next, and the next... My best guess was 1,000 feet or so when Flamedramon finally stopped and bent over for me to dismount, but really by then I could barely keep track of my altitude. I couldn't see the ground anymore because it was covered by leaves from previous branches, so pretty damn high will just have to do for a measurement. I did dismount and asked Flamedramon, "What's the problem? You want that break you asked for now?"

Flamedramon didn't even turn around as he grumbled, "Yeah..." a glow encompassed his body again then, and a pit formed in my stomach. He was changing form again? We hadn't planned for that! What's worse, he became smaller, not larger. It looked more like he was digivolving backwards... dedigivolving? Is that the word? Is that a word at all? Forget it, you understand what happened, right? He reverted to Veemon.

And when he did, he fell forward. Reflexively I leapt forward myself and threw my hands in front of his chest to keep him from going all the way down. I needn't have bothered; he was in no danger of falling off the branch. But, I dunno, it happened. I set him down gently and rolled him over. Yep, eyes were closed. Crap. The pit in my stomach was widening. I placed a hand over Veemon's chest and pressed lightly to try and sense a heartbeat... but there wasn't one. My hand was still. I tried doing the two finger trick under the jawline for it, but that was no good either. Nothing.

Now I was freaking out. Frantically, I scrambled for the digivice in my pocket. Normally a simple extraction, it took me 45 seconds of frustrated grasping to have it in my hand as I kneeled beside Veemon, anxiety rising like a rocket. "Josh, please tell me you're still there! I got a big problem!"

The reply wasn't instant, but it was slightly concerned. "What's going on up there, Dylan?" from Josh.

I frantically yelled at the device, "Flamedramon is down! He went back to Veemon, and I thought he passed out, but he's not breathing, and his heart's not beating! I dunno what to do!" Breathing was hard with a tightened throat, but that didn't stop me from doing it quickly and loudly enough for me to even notice the sound of the rushing air.

I shamefully confess that my fear wasn't all for Veemon. It was a lot for Veemon, mind you - I'm not such a terrible person that I wouldn't be devastated if he died! But there was another concern, too. Without Flamedramon, I was trapped pretty damn high feet up in the air with no way up and no way down. So, basically exactly what I was afraid of before we started the climb happened. And that produced a fear response. Look at it psychologically and it's totally logical, even if it still makes me an asshole for even thinking one iota about myself in the circumstances.

"Dylan? Calm down. He's not dead."

"What are you talking about? He got no pulse!" I reiterated.

"He's a digimon, Dylan. Made of data. He doesn't need a heartbeat, and he doesn't need to breathe. As long as his data hasn't been erased or damaged, he's fine."

"What the hell do you mean, he doesn't need a heartbeat? You weren't smoking something with Bradley, were you!"

"Hey!" Brad exclaimed in the background.

"Will you shut up and listen for a second? Digimon don't die unless they're data is damaged beyond repair. A digimon's body is made up of his data, so..." Silence as Josh struggled for a comprehensible explanation was not promising.

Gabumon finished for him. "Dylan, Veemon is alright. He's just exhausted from all the stress his body has been through. It's not easy to hold a form beyond rookie for long. I'm amazed he did it as long as he did. Remember when you saw me dedigivolve?" He spoke calmly and evenly, which I found helpful. Oh, and I guess that settles it. Dedigivolve is a word. Yeah, I remembered Gabumon was out like a light after his fight with Meramon, but I didn't inspect his breath or heart rate closely. I inferred from that the state was normal, then.

But that didn't make it a desirable one. "Well, then I got another problem. I'm stuck! Flamedramon was the only way I could get up or down for a lot of the way, and I'm not gonna be able to reach the top of this tree without him." At least knowing he was medically okay soothed my nerves a bit. "You really should carry rope around with you, you know that? Would'a been real helpful right about now."

"Why didn't you just use the rope from the tent, genius?" Oh. Right. That. There I was trying to scold Josh when I was the one in the wrong. Whoops. So I did as he said. I call it about 14 feet. Not a lot, and not enough to restore the full mobility of before, but if I got creative I could make it work. Thing is, I couldn't just leave Veemon's dead/unconscious/whatever body there. Even taking a more pragmatic view, he'd be stuck if I did, and he may be able to assist me once he recovered. But on the less logical side of things... I dunno. I was starting to really like and care for the guy. I guess that happens when someone does nothing but have your back all the time.

So I helped him literally have my back by carrying him piggy-back like he did me. I probably had an easier burden than him, but I realized a flaw in my plan pretty quick. I could and did throw the rope length over a branch and let half drape over, extending my reach by about six feet, but one hand had to keep Veemon secure, which meant I either had to hold both halves of the drooping rope with one hand and shimi up it flawlessly - over and over - or plummet back down, possibly to serious injury and/or death.

No pressure.

I didn't like that risk, especially because Veemon's life was on the line there, too. I didn't trust my physical prowess. You can't see me, but believe you me, I shouldn't have trusted my upper body strength. "Alright, screw that, Josh. I'm just gonna wait for him. And when he's back up and goin' I'll try and get him to digivolve again... somehow." I had no idea how I was supposed to pull that off, but it happened once, right? It was either do something or do nothing, anyway. Trying was the only logical choice. "Hey, send some food up up here. I could go for some pizza right about now if I'm honest, and I bet Veemon could, too."

"What, you couldn't just eat before we left?"

"Will you just shut up and grab dinner, Josh?"

"Fine. But I'm keeping the receipt, and you're paying me back every penny later. Firewall's still open, so me and Brad are going back to get you something. You should be safe up there, but it'll probably be dark s-" Boom. All light gone. "-ssssssnow. So yeah. You have fun with that!" Shit, I didn't like the idea of being left all alone in the digital world, but I didn't have much choice in the matter, did I? At least Veemon was there to keep me company... sort of.

I sat down cross-legged and just looked around. I looked up, down, left, right, and every direction between. It was all I could do, really. Well, that and maybe one other thing. Can you guess? "To my love, the end has come/I'm sorry I'm not going home/Pain is gone, but all I feel/Is the last blood in my veins to slowly running cold." The song's meaning had no real relevance to the situation. It's about a soldier apologizing to his wife for the terrible things soldiers have done and for the fact that he died while doing it. But I just thought it matched the quiet, dreary mood of the circumstances. "Day after day, I fought so hard/Hoping to meet you once again/Orders obeyed, for a sacred aim/Do I need honor? Am I left to die?" I stood up then and leaned against the tree, feeling somewhat invigorated by my own singing. "Don't lose your smile, love makes all good survive/You were my sunshine all the way/Don't close your eyes, a new world is to rise/Forgive the wrongs we've done for freedom's sake..." I actually felt a bit melancholy by the chorus' end. I regretted singing that song. Now I was all depressed. I think I was the only one impressed by my singing.

"Hmm. Your voice is actually kind of sweet." I had been looking down, as sad people tend to do, so when Renamon spoke she startled me. But before I could move much she had her paws on my shoulders to keep me from becoming too unsteady. "My, my, you must learn to keep your balance. I won't always be around to save your life, you know."

"Good point. I appreciate you more when you stop me from falling out of things... after you make me almost fall out of things... can I help you, are are you just here because you like delivering jump-scare gags?"

The fox digimon smirked, and in that moment I was just glad somebody thought I was funny who wasn't me. "You're a curious one," she just stated vaguely. But for once I got some sort of elaboration from her. "I'm glad to see you in my world, but I can't help wondering what you're doing climbing trees when you have a world to save. Two, in fact." She wrapped an arm around my shoulders like I was an old friend then, making me feel very uncomfortable.

"Eh, you know me. Apparently. I'm always eager to learn new things. Somehow or another, this tree is a ticket to Gallantmon... according to the guys." I'm not gonna lie, I was becoming skeptical of the reward for all this effort. Sure, I'd managed to fool myself into thinking Gallanton was awaiting me with open arms on the highest branch earlier, but now it just seemed like I was climbing - well, not climbing - because I had already started. "Hey, you're the one who wanted me to do good by my friends, right?"

Renamon disappeared. Like, really, just poof. No longer there. But then there her voice was a few yards above me, "Indeed, I am! But I wonder if your friends are trustworthy. That Bradley boy, for example-"

"Miss Renamon, with all respect due to one of your station and status... shut the fuck up." Now I was getting annoyed. "There's nothing you can tell me about my first friend after the move that I don't already know. You'll just be beating a dead horse."

Renamon just waved me off dismissively. "Oh, how rude of me. I'll never understand human names. There are just too many, and I confused the two boys' names."

Now that was a little funny. If it wasn't more infuriating. "Oh, okay... so, I think I've got your master plan figured out. Your plan to turn me against my friends is to point out the flaws of the one who didn't backstab me, rob me, lie to me, and try to forget all about me afterwards. Brilliant. Seriously, A+ logic."

Even though Renamon chuckled, we by then were not simply engaging in a contest of wits. "Oh, don't lie to yourself. You don't like it when others do, after all. When is the last time Joshua praised you for anything you've done? He certainly has plenty of insults to hand out. And, oof, when your life's dream was yanked away because you got kicked out of his band..."

I'm not gonna lie, I started to feel a searing disdain for a certain someone with the mention of all this past. And it wasn't Josh. "You think you know, but you're horribly blind/You think you know how this story's defined... But I think you don't know how much you don't know about Josh." Reader, beware: I was going to monologue. "Let me tell you a little something about that guy. He is the only person on the planet - the only person - who has ever tried to help me achieve my life dream. He knew from the get-go I'd always wanted to be a professional musician. A good friend would naturally express good wishes. Perhaps a great friend would even try to find me a band. That's what Josh did. Now here's what an exemplary friend would do: he works his ass off and puts Christmas and birthday money into drum lessons because he couldn't find a drummer for your band. And even if you deserve to be replaced for a better guitarist, he fights to keep the other band members patient and tolerant for as long as he can! Amendment One came to North Carolina, and he made us two shirts to spread the message to vote no, even though it failed. That's the guy you're trying to turn my against, lady. Good luck."

Right on cue, the yellow button on Bradley's digivice began to flash. So I aimed the screen at the ground, pushed the button, and there appeared two bottles of water and, yes, a delivery box of Leaning Tower of Pizza pizza. Still hot, too. And a sticky note was attached to it: ~Parents r making me have dinner w/ them, be back when we can if firewall's still open~ Shit, I'd hate the idea of being cut off from the guys. I couldn't imagine that if people and objects couldn't get through the firewall that a communication signal between digivice a would somehow be an exception.

But I had pizza, so all was right with the world. "See that Renamon? I don't think you know them as well as you think you do. You may be fascinated with watching me, but while you see my friends through my eyes because of that, it's your brain connected to them. And that's why you don't know a thing about them."

When Renamon smiled at me, her fangs showed. A bit scary, but at least she wasn't to use them on me. She just muttered the word "Interesting..." before she hopped off the branch and plummeted to the earth - in a manner of speaking, anyway. Yet still I could hear her voice call one last, "Oh, by the way? You won't find what you expect at the top of this tree. But you should still keep climbing."

Well, that happened.

After four slices of large pizza mysteriously disappeared before my very eyes, I got an unexpected call over the digivice. "Dylan, you still there? Josh is stuck watching football with his dad. Is Veemon still out?" It was Shoutmon.

"Yeah, I'm still here," I responded, "And Veemon's still - wait, hang on." Now that I had looked to Veemon, it turned out he had chosen that moment to stir. "Scratch that. He's coming to. Hey, Veemon! Dinner time!" I tossed a warm slice of pizza onto his belly, making him jolt awake. "But I don't know how I'm supposed to make him digivolve again."

"Well he can't digivolve hungry, so let him eat as much as he wants. When he's got his energy back... I dunno. Do whatever you did before!"

"Shoutmon, your wisdom knows no bounds. Hey, listen, there's something else I gotta tell you. Renamon came back, and she-" Beep beep! The digivice screen displayed a picture of a thick line between two circles reminiscent of Shoutmon's earlier illustration of the firewall. "Hey Shoutmon, can you still hear me?" I waited for a while and got no reply. "Damnit!" I cursed quietly.

I blindly reached for a pizza slice since I sure could have used some comfort food right then, but my hand bumped into Veemon's. Apparently we reached for the same slice then. I guess that makes sense, though. It was the only slice left after all, as I found when my gaze was drawn there. I followed the blue arm's length up to its owner to meet his gaze, one of mild surprise. And then we both took our hands away to try and let the other person have it. "Nah, I'm good. Ate enough already," I decided aloud as I instead finally went for my bottle of water. "You need the energy more. It's all yours." Veemon still didn't take it though. I waited for it, but no. So, I tried a different approach. I picked the slice up myself, stood, and held it out over the branch's edge. "I'm not eating this pizza, bud. So either claim it quick, or we're never gonna see it again." I wasn't serious. If he insisted, I'd probably have given in and eaten it. I told myself that forcing Veemon to take it was only practical for the mission at hand, but really I just thought it would be the nice thing to do.

I think Veemon knew I'd never waste edible pizza. He smirked at me. I smirked back. He rolled his eyes in an "Oh, okay, fine!" kind of manner, but he still smiled while he did it. So I tossed it at him, and he understandably gobbled it up.

But once he did, he looked away from me. "Sorry," he said simply and softly.

I tilted my head a bit in confusion in curiosity. "'Sorry?' You wanna enlighten me as to what you're sorry about? I hope it's not taking the pizza."

Veemon shook his head, not looking at me but out over the edge. "I'm sorry I ran out of energy. I was supposed to get you all the way up." Oh, man. The poor guy looked like he was gonna cry or something. So I tried to avert that by keeping a calm, nonchalant attitude.

"So what? It's not like you failed at that. The process is ongoing." I punctuated that with a shrug. "Now you're ready to roll again. So we'll figure out how to help you digivolve, and then we'll put Everest climbers to shame. Now that, I'm looking forward to." I don't think I helped, but at the very least the digimon shook off whatever he was feeling and got his head back in the game. His expression became more focused and less dreary. "Good enough for me. So let's think on it. What was happening when you digivolved last time?"


	6. My Big Brother pays me a surprise visit

"If this doesn't work, I'm gonna be really unhappy, Shoutmon."

"Come on, how much can they possibly cost?"

"More than you can afford, So if you break it, or I can't get it back, I'll make sure you regret it." I probably was going to do nothing but become rather upset if I lost the guitar. Sure, this was Shoutmon's stupid plan, but by going with it I was complicit. And even if he sent it without my permission, what was I gonna do, beat him up? Like I could, even if I had that in me.

"Which one is it?"

"The black one!"

"There are three black ones!"

"The black one with a big hole in the body! I don't have an electrical outlet to plug into up here!" Moments later, my acoustic guitar flashed into the digital world through the digivice. "Got it. Now do me a favor and get out of my house before my parents find you and call the cops... or animal control."

"Oh, good plan! Why didn't I think of that?" was Shoutmon's snarky response as I also heard in the background him opening my window.

I forgot to ask for a pick, too, but I didn't like the idea of taking a bigger risk than necessary. I'd just have to thumb strum and finger pluck. Man, I hated finger plucking. To try and match the situation as closely as possible, I played an original like I had been when Veemon digivolved the first time. "Alright, Veemon, whatever you were doing before... well, do that I guess. I hope it works with just any guitar, assuming this is the solution at all."

"We have to try something, right?" No, I could not argue with that. But there was a certain matter to take care of first.

"Uh... Veemon? This song is kinda sad and dark. Really dark. But even though it's not how I feel now, it is how I once felt. Not now, though, so... basically, any references or metaphors for suicide you may pick up, don't think too hard on it. That's not me anymore. In fact, that was never even intended"

Veemon became concerned, I could tell. But he didn't voice it. Still, I was unhappy to cause the frown. Oh, well. I only had one acoustic original song. "There's an angel in my heart/But a devil's in my head/I can't tell them apart/And so I fear I'll soon be dead." Look, I know you can't hear it, and even if I took the way too much time required to explain exactly what I was doing, the notes and chords sing and played, the timing of both those, you'd probably be lost. So I'll just say the quiet night air of the digital world matched well with the song's somber mood and be done with it. "I know not whom to trust/My belief or my lust/And now I fear that judgement's here/It's time to do what I must."

Heh, sounds like I'm wrestling with reconciling faith with homosexuality, right? Pure coincidence, actually. I was truly struggling with whether I should burn the bridge between me and my old fiercely anti-Semitic friend on the grounds of not tolerating intolerance despite my insatiable need for others in my life. Ironic considering how much I liked my alone time. After this adventure, I thought I would need lots of it.

"But what must I do...? Must I hurt myself to keep belief?" No, not a self-harm reference, but a question of whether I should lose my friend to do the right thing. "Will death have to be my sweet relief?/" Wow, I swear, I was just then realizing how suicidey that sounded. Sure, I'd wanted to kill myself before. Who hasn't? But that wasn't meant to be the main message. Maybe I'd have been better off rewriting that one. "Am I bound for the abyss to be the sole shining light? Would I be better off?/Must I lay aside all of my pride and tolerate he who would scoff?/Be friends with he who disgusts me? Would I be better off?"

I stopped then. I thought that was enough unintentional dreariness for one climb. Besides, it didn't work. A song I poured a little too much of my heart and soul into still left Veemon as Veemon. So I stored the guitar in the digivice and resolved not to lose it. "You still there, Shoutmon?"

"Hey, I'm back," Josh informed me, "Shoutmon told me about the idea. Did it work?"

"No, no it did not. I think you'd just better tell me how to teleport outta here while the firewall is still open... Shit, I'm sorry for getting into this mess."

"Hey, we sent you up there, remember? I'm sorry for getting you into it. But just push the-" Josh's voice cut off abruptly then, and because of that I cursed again angrily. I had waited hours just to talk to Shoutmon, and I'd have to wait more? Fuck this!

"Veemon's we're gonna be here for a couple more hours. Get comfy," I grumbled as I sat back down and leaned my guitar against the trunk.

"We should sleep," suggested Veemon, "if we're stuck here. Maybe it'll help me digivolve, too." Good people are not only easy to deceive, but also awful at attempting the act. Neither of us thought sleep would make Veemon digivolve, but maybe he was right about needing to sleep. In real-world time it was late when we left, and considering how long it had been after that I have to confess I was beat.

So I sighed but silently agreed. I kicked the pizza box over the edge to make room for lying down, and I took another swig of water from the bottle, almost emptying it, before setting it down laying down on my back myself. There was a gentle breeze flowing at that time, and if I wasn't stuck there, I think it might have been a really peaceful environment. I wasn't looking forward to waking up there, but I could definitely sleep there.

And I did. For a while anyway. Don't bother asking about my dreams, though. When I had them I rarely remembered them. All I could really remember was this annoying buzzing sound that kept waking me up like the sound of a mosquito right next to my ear, only lower in pitch. At some point I got so frustrated that I sat up and looked around to try and find its source.

Snap!

Oh, fuck! I didn't even know what caused the branch to snap, but it did! It only hung on by a couple fibers, and it began to tilt and fall very. What could have done it? It was so damn thick! Was the food rotting or something? "Veemon, grab something!" I frantically shouted while I hung onto a twig. Unfortunately, Veemon failed to come to and realize the situation and grab a handhold all in time.

As the branch tilted, all our material - the water and even Bradley's digivice - fell right over and plummeted. Veemon... Just as his eyes shot open, he tumbled backwards to the unforgiving ground, screaming on his way down. And then he stopped screaming. I couldn't see the bottom, so once Veemon fell through enough leaves he was out of sight. I went ahead and presumed he was dead.

And that would have been devastating if there wasn't still a clear and present danger to be rid of first. The branch had gone vertical, and I was dangling for my life. My heart raced, and adrenaline pumped to keep me from giving up on holding on, but in gym class I never could exceed one consecutive pull-up.

To make matters worse, another branch from above came crashing down! I thought it would knock me right off my twig, but fortunately it landed right at the joint between my branch and the tree. Its hold loosened still more precariously but wouldn't plummet quite yet. But while I was breathing quickly, the branch shook from the impact and jarred loose one of my hands, leaving me now dangling and swinging a little. A dangerous predicament.

I got my answer as to the culprit of When Trees Attack when the omnipresent buzzing grew louder and louder. Shit, was it above me? Looking up, my heart filled with dread. There, dive bombing me, and cutting clean through any tree its pincers ran into, was some sort of giant red beetle Digimon. Besides being disgusting, it also seemed pissed! Shit, were we in its tree?

Its course wouldn't deviate from straight at me. Man, if I had never played Assassin's Creed, I think I could never have done the one thing that saved my life... I let go early. The Digimon snapped the branch anyway, but I wasn't there when it happened. I gave myself a little bit of a head start, hoping to outfall the creature. Of course, when Ezio jumped from absurdly high heights he knew he had a haystack waiting to catch him, and nothing was chasing him down. I had neither of those luxuries.

So, for about seven seconds I lived in a state of terror. I thought each second may be my last. Am I gonna die now? No, doesn't look that way. Probably now, though. That was more or less my thought sequence for the fall. Sure, I can narrate it calmly now, but I was having a moderate to severe panic attack along the way, tears even shedding through my wide eyes.

When I finally landed on my belly, I couldn't breathe. The wind was knocked out of me. I tried to cough and punch my own stomach and chest to get air circulating again. Screw falling! I was shocked that didn't kill me, but I hurt like crap, and I thought suffocation would be what did me in! But somehow my windpipe opened to take air back in, and once it did I coughed and air, with however much difficulty, began to circulate once more. So I breathed quickly to make up for the loss before and realized... I was still moving. Not down, but laterally. Since I wasn't dying anymore - not immediately - I looked about to try and figure out from where my miracle came.

Predictably, it was right below me. Boy, who saw that coming, right? If I didn't know better I'd have thought I had been caught by a dragon and was now riding on his back. But the reality was I had been caught by a digimon who resembled a dragon on whose back I was then riding. Important distinction. With scales that light shade of blue, figuring out the identity of my rescuer was easy enough. "Holy shit! Veemon?"

"Ha, close! Exveemon!" Oh, that figured. He's not Veemon anymore, so his form is called ex-Veemon. Very clever, whoever came up with that name, very clever. "Grab on tight!" As ironic as that was coming from the guy who just failed to do so to the guy who didn't, Exveemon had a fair point. The buzzing of the beetle's wings grew louder as it charged at us, so he made an acrobatic move to avoid the strike that nearly jarred me loose despite my grip on him.

Remember that bit about riding the fair pony and roller coaster? Try and imagine how riding a flying dragon while a giant bug tried to kill us felt for me. "Exveemon, that thing is faster than you!" I pointed out. That was demonstrated by another incoming attack, requiring another dodge. "You'll have to fight it off! What the hell is that thing?"

"Kuwagamon!" I was not happy for Exveemon's response to be stopping and turning around to face the creature. "This... is not gonna end well," I thought aloud but under my breath as I clung to the base of the dragon's neck like it was the only thing keeping me alive - and it kind of was, because at that moment his back went vertical. He crossed his arms in front of his body - and let me take a moment to say damn, I can only wish I was built the way he was! - and I thought he was going to take the digimon's attack head on. But a couple moments later he uncrossed his arms, and this... well, like a laser-light-beam sort of thing in the shape of an X discharged from him!

Then again, the other day I saw a flame demon shoot fireballs. How crazy can laser dragons be?

The beat struck Kuwagamon right on. I don't think he - or she, I really didn't bother to look given the circumstances. I'm not even sure I could have distinguished it anyway - didn't see the hit coming, because he flew right into it... and boy, was it effective. Kuwagamon was sliced into four equal parts like its carapace was comprised of butter. It would have been a really gory scene if there was blood or organs falling, but that's not what happened. His four body parts just kinda burst into what I assumed were little data bits that just floated away, never to be seen again.

Finally, I could breathe easy again. "Holy shit... Exveemon? Shit, I don't like the way digimon names always change. If I can make a suggestion from here moving forward I would advise we don't do anything stupid like that again."

Exveemon's flight steadied once the danger had passed. He took me to the ground, and I was surprised by how gentle his landing was. I suspect that wasn't an accident, and I was grateful for it. Exveemon was a lot easier to climb off of than a tree, especially because trees don't bend down and extend their arms to help their climber get to the ground. "Holy shit... How did you do that? I mean besides digivolving, how'd you do that X thing?" I was laughing like a crazy person. The situation wasn't funny. I was just so relieved to be alive.

I'd never actually witnessed Digimon combat before, so I wasn't aware of their crazy powers until Exveemon explained them to me. At this point that was an easy pill to swallow. "But I have no idea how I digivolved. I just wanted to, because you were in danger, and I just... did it!" he finished. And that's when something gave me an idea.

"Hey, bud. Here's a thought: what if I'm not the key to your evolution at all? What if you're doing that all on your own? All we really know for fact is that somehow or another, you don't need a digivice to digivolve." I'm not gonna lie, the idea of that was not a pleasant one at all. I kind of wanted to think of myself as some special player in this game of saving the world but, hell, I hadn't even seen us do anything productive to rebuild the firewall. How would that even work? But my thoughts digressed. "Speaking of digivices... Maybe we want to go find as many pieces of Bradley's digivice as possible."

Oh, man. I thought he'd kill me. Right then the sun reappeared in the sky, and darkness became light in a flash. The tree was still visible even though we'd flown a great distance away from it. Renamon' voice echoed in my head then. "You won't find what you expect at the top of this tree. But you should still keep climbing." But after that bull she spewed before that, I thought it would be better to disobey her. Hell, she might have been talking about Kuwagamon and wanted to get me killed for all I know.

Oddly enough, Exveemon and I were able to locate the digivice intact. Either those things were indestructible, or it got very lucky in hitting branches and leaves on the way down. We also found my guitar... it was not indestructible. Or reparable. I might have cried if I wasn't more focused on reporting back to Josh. "Hey, Josh? You there? ...I'm gonna be really upset if the firewall is still closed."

The reaction wasn't immediate, but it was strong. "Dylan? Holy shit! We thought you were dead!"

"So did I. Hey, do me a favor and get me the hell out of here! This whole thing has been a fool's errand from the start. If Gallantmon was here, he would've seen the show that just happened and shown himself by now. And tell Shoutmon he owes me a guitar!"

Josh taught me how to return to the digivice's set location, and I did. Being Brad's device, it was his bedroom. Exveemon and I decided not to return together. It was mostly me, though. That was his world, and this was mine. Shame. I was going to miss him, really, even if trouble did follow him like a lost puppy. It's not like I could hide a dragon in my closet anyway. Wouldn't want the government knocking on my door or something, right?

I didn't tell Bradley about Renamon and what she said about the top of the tree. It didn't seem all that important. At least, it wasn't to me. But I did fear me next encounter with her. I didn't expect her to be happy with me.

But maybe that wouldn't happen, I thought. The only real loose end, Veemon, had been tied up. Now the adventure was really and truly over for me. Hmm, what fools we all were to ever believe I had a part to play in their war. If the world was going to end, I could do nothing about it.

So, I did nothing about it. Renamon be damned. I think having to acclimate a second time back into civilian life was easier than the first. I was kind of glad to leave the Digimon stuff behind this time. This may come as a shock to you, but took no pleasure in almost dying many times. I would rather have left that all to Bradley, Josh, and the Digimon.

That didn't mean I never saw the Digimon again, though. Gabumon, at least. Brad's mother was getting real tired of him getting his phone confiscated during summer school classes, so she refused to let him leave home with it. That meant during Brad's school hours I'd be texting a Digimon.

Don't judge me.

He'd tell me of their latest exploits and battles and encounters and whatever. His human still couldn't find much time for me, but at least I couldn't blame him anymore. He had a tough job. Josh, well, I really couldn't find time for him. Didn't really have a reason to. I wasn't in a band with him anymore. Ironically enough I had been about to delete his number some weeks later when my phone rang showing his number as the caller. "Josh? Here I was, thinking you'd forgotten all about me!"

"Well I didn't. Listen, Jessica's been unreliable as ever, so me and Ethan kicked her out. Now today, Ethan threw one of his diva tantrums and walked right out on the band himself. So now it's just me."

"Aww, that's sweet. Are you trying to apologize? I really don't wanna hear it."

"Then it's a good thing I'm not apologizing. I'm trying to give your spot in the band back and find another singer and bass player, but you're making that a lot harder than it needs to be."

Wow, and there I was just being an asshole to him. That's me put in my place. "...oh. Well, I guess if we can-"

I was cut off by hearing my mother call from downstairs, "Dylan, come down, please!" The time was six, so I figured it was time to feed the dogs.

"Josh, hang on, I'll be right back." I slipped my phone in my pants pocket then but didn't silence my end of the call or anything. I figured it'd be a quick trip downstairs and back to my bedroom's privacy. But when I got down, it wasn't four dogs that were overexcited to see me but four strangers in suits and sunglasses.

Nothing good ever comes from strangers wearing suits and sunglasses.

"Dylan Loon?" The answer to your first question is yes, my last name is actually Loon. The answer to your second question is no, it's not okay to laugh.

"Well-dressed stranger?" I retorted sarcastically, tensing up and adopting a defensive mentality. As could be easily predicted, the suits didn't think I was funny either. "It's polite to introduce yourself before asking for someone else's name."

I never did learn their names. Oh, well. I would have forgotten them soon anyway. Once badges were produced, I just identified them in my mind as FBI guy #1 through #4. "We'd like you to come with us and answer some questions."

It didn't take a genius to figure out they were after something related to the Digimon or the digital world. I tensed, but I knew it would do me no good to let stress cloud my judgement. If the government was involved, it would be time to do or die. So with calm poise I opened my mouth and adopted a vacant look briefly to try and pretend to think about what this could all be about and shrugged my shoulders to signify coming up empty. Body language is the most convincing means of deception, which I had to rely on because I had no idea if these all were good people. "Uh... Okay, sure. How can I help?"


	7. My cellmate entered the US illegally

That day I learned what the inside of a jail cell looks like, so I don't think I passed my interrogation. I don't regret having gone with the guys, though. I had to try and mislead them. And I think I might have succeeded.

It started off like typical government bull crap. They had me empty my pockets (and took my phone, assholes) before stuffing me into the backseat of a black Chevy SUV. Man, they must have meant business. They would have brought a sedan for a typical pickup, but no, they sprung for an SUV. I actually felt honored, and I'm not gonna lie, it would have felt good if I was, I dunno, receiving an award or something.

At some point during the trip I was blindfolded. Honestly, I complied with that calmly because I saw it coming from a mile away. More cloak and dagger bull. My escorts wouldn't say a word to me the whole drive, but that was okay. That was just another day in the car for me, really.

The blindfold remained until I was sat down in the most comfortable chair on the face of the planet. Some interrogation! It was so soft and leaned back at just the perfect angle. Its floral design was a pretty nice contrast to all the gray metal in the room. Grey floors, grey ceiling, three grey walls, and one mirror that reflected all the grey. I only saw that all because of a swinging lamp above me whose light was so white it made all the gray stuff look even greyer. Typical interrogation room. Plus a comfy chair.

I had about an hour to take in the atmosphere, if you can call it that, before a woman in a formal business suit and skirt herself - though with some suggestive modifications - walked in. The first thing my questioner would ask me was not what I knew about the digital world. It also wasn't about what I had seen Digimon do and whether their powers could be harnessed and weaponized. The question was even more diabolical, even more sinister than that. The woman looked me over and asked me, "Donut?" as she held one out to me.

"Is it jelly-filled?" I asked suspiciously. You know me, I'm a picky eater. I mentioned that already.

"It is," the FBI agent affirmed as she nodded.

"No, thanks, then. I'm not a jelly-filled guy. And no, don't offer to get me another kind of donut. I'm hungry as shit, but I'd rather not swallow whatever sort of truth serum you're trying to slip me." Sounds like I'm joking, right? Not quite. I half-believed that was the intent. Lack of denial from the agent is what made me fully believe it. "And while I'm at it, the slutty skirt isn't gonna win you any points from a gay guy. Did you all actually do your research on me before picking me up? I feel like I'm doing your job for you."

"Mr. Loon, we're wondering if you've noticed any odd behavior from your friends or family. Maybe, being gone for long periods of time or giving you the cold shoulder...?"

"Ooh, good first question. Vague enough so that if I truly have no connection to what you're interested in, I can't find out." Boy, I'd better not get arrested by local cops. They'd never put up with my bullshit. The FBI only did it because they had to. "No, nothing weird behavior wise. Parents still love me, sister's still a bitch, Facebook friends are still nothing but favors on apps."

The interrogator followed her training and didn't lose her cool. "Mr. Loon, while you've been away, members of my team examined your house for traces of what we're chasing. A trail, if you will." As vague as she tried to be, the word chasing said a lot. It implied something that could run. Something alive. I dunno what kind of fancy machine could detect that Digimon had been in my house, but it didn't seem completely impossible. You know, considering the whole giant monster thing. This was believable by comparison. "We just want your help tracking it down before people get hurt. The government can be very rewarding when its purposes are served."

"Then can you explain to me why there are so many homeless veterans? Nah, you can promise me that I'll get into whatever college I want, maybe, even admit me for free, but you can't bribe me that way if I don't want to go to college." I leaned in and slyly hinted, "If you want to negotiate for information, you'll have to consider my values." Honesty, I was completely improvising. Hey, I wasn't going to escape a government facility by sitting idly by.

The sly snake across from my seat smirked. She likely thought she had just gained some ground in getting me to loosen my tongue. I expect she was a rookie on the job since she couldn't maintain a straight countenance, a thought which made me feel much less honored than I did before. "Is that so? What would incentivize you to serve your country then?"

Oh, this was too easy. All I had to do was get the interrogator to leave me unsupervised and I could walk on out of there if I was lucky. So I started listing conditions, counting them off with my fingers as if I'd thought of them prior. "Full immunity for prior involvement in the matter would be nice. I could also use a new acoustic guitar. Anything from Ibanez will do as long as it runs you $2,000 or more. And yes, I expect to see a receipt. Finally, most importantly... I won't talk to anybody until there's a plate of plain cheese pizza straight from Leaning Tower of Pizza along with a salt and pepper shaker. Packets are also acceptable. Deal?" Hell, maybe if I was lucky I'd actually get all that shit.

I got a nod from the agent. "I'll consult my superior and see what he thinks." And that was it. She walked out. And locked the door behind her! Damn! I guess it was never gonna be that easy, but that was still disappointing.

I was left alone with the silence then. Mostly silence. I could hear another door open or close a couples times every few minutes. But I couldn't hear another voice until there was a knock on the wall and a female asking me, "Oye, is someone there?" Oh, yeah, she was definitely Mexican. Or from some Spanish-speaking country. Or maybe Brazil, or some- okay, point is, she was foreign. Didn't know where from at the time. But probably from the Americas somewhere. I assumed.

I wasn't sure about replying, but one doesn't break out of a government facility by sitting idly. So I knocked back and hush-whispered, "Yeah, they holding you to?"

"Yes! Who are you?" The accent was real thick, making it tougher to understand than speaking through a wall already did.

I figured, you don't break out of a government facility without allies. So I tried to let my guard down a bit. "I'm Dylan... And I'm not one of you, but I know all about you and... them." I decided it was less important for her to be polite and introduce herself first in this scenario. Manners could wait. But I also had to be cautious in case she actually didn't know anything. "And that's why they have me. What's your story?"

"My name is Jimena Montoya Bautista-" Oh, yeah, that was from somewhere that speaks Spanish. "-And I..."

"...something wrong? You can trust me, I swear. I don't know how to prove that, but you can."

"...I speak bad English. Can't tell the story."

Oh, boy, that sucked! Just when I thought I was making a friend in prison, boom, language barrier. Doesn't it really suck when that happens? Boy, if I didn't speak Spanish fairly well I would have been in quite a bind. "Cuéntamelo en español." Good thing she wasn't Brazilian or something. No offense to Brazilians, mind you, but I don't speak Portuguese.

Jimena told me she was from the república dominicana - that's the Dominican Republic for you laymen and laywomen - which in turn told me there were more digidestined than just Brad and Josh. Perhaps they were all over the globe operating in secret, and I was in on their secret society. Sounds a lot cooler when I put it that way. Anyway, she had been collaborating with some of my fellow Americans on investigating the cause of the firewall's instability, but it seemed like the digidestined as a whole knew about as much as I did about that. Which is none, by the way. But at some point she was yanked from the digital world. Yanked, as in she didn't mean to teleport back to my place but was forced to. At that point she was promptly apprehended and brought here. "He estado aquí por una semana." I've been here for a week.

Well, guess I wasn't getting my constitutional right to a speedy trial either. "Qué les has dicho?" I asked the girl. What have you told them?

Jimena said that whenever she was approached by agents she clammed up and went silent. Kind of had to admire the stubbornness, but one doesn't break out of a government facility by doing nothing. Still, I was shocked they didn't resort to torture yet. "¿Por qué nos quiere la-" I didn't catch all that. She said it fast, and the last thing was a word I didn't recognize.

"¿Otra vez?"

"¿Por qué nos quiere la se y a?" That's why I didn't understand her. She didn't say a word. She said three letters: CIA. She asked why the CIA wanted us, and by that indirectly their stake in what was going on. But there was a bit of a discrepancy that bugged me.

"¿La CIA? Yo me detuve por la FBI. El gobierno debe estar serioso sobre obtener información." I'm not 100% sure I said that right, but I'm sure Jimena knew I meant that I was taken by the FBI, not the CIA, and if all hands were being called in the government must be real serious about whatever they're after. "Jimena, we've gotta get out of here."

"How?" Oh, man, Jimena knew how to ask the tough questions. But I really only had one idea.

"No clue. If you're digidestined, where's your digimon? Do you have your digivice?"

"Armadillomon run from the CIA," Jimena responded in her best English through the wall, "Don't know where. A man take the digivice, don't know where." Shit, I didn't like the thought of our only chance of rescue being a digimon who hadn't even shown up for a week. I couldn't exactly hold it against him, but it meant he was out of the equation. The digivice, on the other hand, inspired some wheels in my head to turn.

"Jimena, can you use the digivice to talk to just anybody else with one?" She asked me to repeat that question, and I did, more slowly.

"Eeehm... sí, but you need know to who you want talk."

"That's okay! I know just who to contact. Get me your digivice, and I'll get you out of here. Deal?" No, it wasn't a perfect plan, and it wasn't an easy plan, but it was a plan. One doesn't escape a government facility without a plan.

Jimena didn't really get any time to give me a definite sí or no answer on whether she was on board with the plan. I heard her door open and I think the same woman who was with me is the one who asked my new Dominican friend, "Honey? Are you hungry?" I guess she lied about calling her superiors. Guess I'm down to three electrics, no acoustic. Well, shit.

I heard female screaming from the next room, at which point I feared the worst: they decided to go ahead with torture. I thought the woman was hitting Jimena over and over. Someone was being beat up good with all those thuds. One more sounded like a body hitting the floor, and the screaming stopped. But it turned out nobody was being tortured. Not Jimena, at least. She called through the wall, "¡Espérame! I go to look for my digivice!"

Holy shit! She was breaking out! I guess she wasn't taking the stealthy approach... and honestly, my first hope was that I didn't get any flak for her stupid decision and/or poor execution of a good decision. But damn, the way she brought down that FBI agent was like something straight out of an action movie! And there I was in the cell right besides, waiting for her to come get me out in a blaze of glory... okay, suddenly I don't like the action movie reference anymore. Makes me look kind of useless.

In all honesty, though, I was. Once my Dominican friend was gone I had nothing to do but wait... and wait... and wait... Man, she must have beat that FBI/CIA/WTF agent down hard, because the whole time I did not hear her get up or leave. But man, was I bored! In all honesty, as long as I had the time and privacy behind a locked door I briefly considered getting a load off, but I figured there were sure to be cameras watching.

Oh, shit. Cameras. If someone was actively watching them, they were sure to have witnessed Jimena's breakout. What's worse, for all I knew we were being recorded auditorily. And that means we'd have A) confirmed that we have knowledge of whatever they want and B) probably given them a lot of other information through our conversation. Shit, I didn't like that thought at all.

I think I just knew something unpleasant would be walking through the door as soon as I heard the lock click. Lock clicking just tends to precede bad things. When the door swung open, there was a person with a gun in her hand. I thought it was my time then. What made it particularly scary is that it wasn't even an adult. They sent a little girl of no older than 13 to kill me. Wait a minute- "Encontré una pistola. ¡Tómalo!"

Oh, hell no! "Are you crazy? I can't shoot somebody!" My objection was overruled when the pistol's handle was shoved into my hand.

"Then don't shoot. But you can scare." Okay, I couldn't argue with that. A weapon was better than not having a weapon. Thing is... I'd never even seen a gun in real life before. Using one, yeah, right. But after some tinkering, I found out how to check the magazine. Fifteen rounds. So, enough to kill one guy if I get a lucky shot.

Jimena handed me her digivice then, and I got to work. "Bradley! Josh! Either of you there? I would really appreciate a quick response!"

I got one. It was Brad. "Dylan? Holy shit, are you using a digivice? Where'd you get one?"

"Not important! Listen, is there some way you can track this thing and find me? I'm in one hell of a bind. If you're in the digital world, get back here before the firewall closes and bring Garurumon if you can."

"Dylan, what's going on?"

"Just fucking do it, Brad!" I gave the machine back to Jimena. "Well... Somebody's coming, I hope. There's no way they're unaware of our escape, so right now we have to hide."

"No!" Jimena objected, "The digivice says Armadillomon is here. We must find him!" So the digivice could track its partner Digimon? Man, who needs a smart phone when you've got a digivice? I considered that, and damn my soft heart, I couldn't really leave this Armadillomon behind. I thought of Veemon. My friend never left me for dead, and I was alive because of that, so there was no way I could ask the girl or her digimon to do that. Man, right in that situation I kinda wished he was there.

"Okay, fine, but Jimena? We don't have time to be heroes. We grab Armadillomon and go as soon as help arrives. That's it. Okay?" I got silence as the answer, but silence is just a form of passive acceptance. Maybe it's hard to argue with the guy holding a gun, too.

We would have to search the building. I guess even the digivice had limits. We knew Armadillomon was in the building, and that was about it. But we had no clue as to the layout of the building, no idea of its square footage, height, and possibly depth (yeah, try and tell me a secret government building doesn't run far underground. Let's see if you convince me). So it looked like we were wandering blind. I'm not experienced with firearms, but it didn't take a genius to figure out pointing it downwards was the best way to avoid shooting my friend by accident. That kinda thing seemed much less funny now that I wasn't playing Halo.

I was shocked each second that nobody picked us up. We had to have crossed at least one camera or security laser or, I dunno, something. I thought I couldn't escape a government facility by meandering like a bull through a china shop, but that was exactly what was happening. If I didn't so badly want things to be easy, I would have been concerned it was all too easy. But easy was good at the time, I thought, so there was no "too easy."

At first it was okay. We had time, it seemed. But it quickly grew boring. This room was empty, that room was insignificant. At that point it was just tedious. "Jimena, we'll get nowhere if we keep wandering blind. We need information... which means we have to find a person. Alone. I'll scare them and ask them where Armadillomon is incarcerated. Okay?"

Jimena looked puzzled, and I was afraid she'd shut my idea down. But actually she just asked me, "Eeeehm... ¿En español?" So I repeated my idea in Spanish, and she agreed to it. That left the quandary, where to find an interrogatee? This building seemed woefully understaffed. Which could only mean...

"Jimena, there's a secret door somewhere. It'll probably go down, since up hasn't served our purposes. Let's head back to the ground floor and look for it." So, we did.

No door presented itself, but a person did. A man, a man in a hazmat suit. I couldn't imagine they'd keep some high-ranking agent level personnel in hazmat gear, which made me think this was just a grunt. Fine by me. "Go, now! For what are you waiting?" Jimena asked me.

"I don't want to be seen if we don't have to. Let's just follow him. Maybe he'll take us where we need to be."

"...vale." I couldn't blame her for being impatient. Were it Bradley or Veemon or Josh or someone I knew, I wouldn't be so level-headed either. But I knew she wasn't, so I had to be.

We followed the dude for all of twenty minutes. Well, more like two. We followed him to a break room of sorts, where he sat down to eat for the remaining 18. Level-headed as I was, even my patience had limits. "...I can't believe I'm about to do this," I remarked under my breath before taking one big breath and rounding the corner, gun raised. "Hands up high! If you shout, I shoot!"

I really hoped the hazmat guy was a good person, because I needed him to be easy to deceive. If he made a move or yelled, I was more likely to flee than shoot anybody. But there was no way for my captive to know that. If I was lucky, he'd sing like a canary.

"Jimena, muéstrale una imagen de Armadillomon." Jimena went into her Digimon database thing and came out with an Armadillomon portrait. Actually, it was a first for me, so I looked, too. He was well-named because he almost exactly resembled an armadillo, though I'd never seen a golden armadillo. Sure, I'd never seen any armadillo before, but still. "Tell me where that Digimon is, and I'll walk away with a full magazine. Better yet-" I clicked the safety off for emphasis. Or maybe I turned it on. I wasn't sure. "-show me."

The hazmat man was scared out of wits. My guess is nobody expected the scientists to get captured, only field agents, because he broke like a pane of glass before a wrecking ball. "Okay, don't shoot! They're in the digital detention block, all the Digimon, south wing, four floors down!" Yep, called it. Underground. Boy, how do I do it?

"That's great and all, but we can't find the entrance. Show us." I scowled for effect, but perhaps admitting the weakness of being lost made me seem less intimidating. I guess the gun was still scary enough, though, because the hazmat slowly stood and kept his hands over his head.

"Mind some company on your walk?" asked a voice that I was not pleased to hear. I wasn't even going to ask how Renamon got inside this facility - or why, since I was sure that would become apparent in due time - but after our last encounter I was not happy to see her.

"Renamon, I really don't have time for your mierda right now. I'm not gonna free Digimon from a government facility by sitting down and having a chat with an old frenemy."

"Oh, what's the matter, sweetie? You don't believe I sent the mean, nasty digimon after you, do I?" Renamon was clearly mocking me, and that only made me more inclined to believe just that. But she also gave a pretty compelling reason to trust her. "Let's catch up on old times elsewhere. I don't love the idea of you humans holding my kind hostage, and it sounds like you and I have the same goal: free the digimon."

"Free a digimon," I corrected Renamon, "Like I told Jimena, as soon as our ride arrives, we're busting out. We don't have time to be heroes. Hey!" Hazmat took a step, so I pointed my gun back at him. "You know what? Go ahead and sit your ass back down. We're not leaving yet."

Renamon scoffed, amused by my tough-guy efforts. "Enjoying your new toy, Dylan?"

"You wanna explain to me why I should trust you? You haven't exactly given yourself much credibility." I then leaned to Jimena and remarked, "No confíes en esta puta."

"Your mother would be ashamed to hear you use such language," Renamon bemused. "I see no reason why I shouldn't assist you. After all, your partner seems to be absent."

"Veemon isn't my partner, okay? No offense to him or anything, he's a good guy, but I'm just trying my best to save my own skin from whatever your kind is up to. I don't have a dog in this fight. But we're getting off topic here."

Renamon smirked. "Is that the kind of thinking that got up that tree? Your resolve to help your friends was so strong then, even despite my little test-"

"Renamon-"

"-but I forget, you had a personal stake in that. You wanted information and deluded yourself into thinking that was the way to get it. Shame you didn't complete the journey for your friends' sake. One of them could have certainly used the prize at the top."

"Will you quit rambling? Aren't you the one who said to move beyond the past?" My pride was stung, and no defense is why I wanted to change the subject. Shameful but true. But apparently she wasn't senselessly rambling.

"You wanted to know why you should trust me? I'm the only person in your life who has ever tried to make you do the right thing for the right thing's sake. You do have a 'dog in this fight,' and that is it. Now, allow me to help you do the right thing once more."

Was I completely sold on that? Hell, no. But I did have a more pragmatic reason to keep her around. She probably knew how to be quiet. "Fine, Renamon. You can come and if help isn't here by the time we find Armadillomon, we'll free as many as we can up to and including all of them if you help us find Armadillomon first."

Renamon seemed to consider that before she shook my hand (without me even extending it, I might add). I couldn't help feeling as if I had just made a deal with the devil.


	8. I become MI6's top agent

Mr. Hazmat guided my motley crew of a rising sophomore boy with a handgun and no way of knowing if the safety was on, a middle-school girl whose friend is a government captive, and a walking, talking alien fox. I hoped that such things wouldn't eventually become just another Tuesday. He took us to a hatch like one in a submarine that opened with a pin pad key code. The code he gave was good, so it opened, and a ladder led downwards.

Renamon then had the good sense to knock our escort out cold - as well as the strength to do it with one solid punch. Damn, and I thought Jimena was tough. I better had not piss off those two ladies. At least they were on my side, though. I peered over the hole, and it was a long way down the ladder, but not too long to figure out what the place was: a factory floor of some sort. Making what, I wondered?

But that wasn't the big issue. The hazmat man said the Digimon were four levels down, and this was but the first. By the way, I found all the security; anyone not wearing a hazmat suit and working the assembly line was meandering around the floor, decked out in full armor and carrying submachine guns or assault rifles. Boy, was that a change from the lone woman. "Uh... Are either of you friends with James Bond? That's a lot of guys."

Renamon laughed, but not at my joke (damn it!). It was a laugh of confidence. As two goons were passing right below, I watched her jump the more or less two story distance, land right behind them - apparently softly enough to not be heard - yank both their helmets off simultaneously, knock their heads together, and finally use her feet to trip the pair and shove their heads into the floor. Holy shit! Renamon could fight! The guards were out instantly!

The Digimon crouched before she drew attention and checked her surroundings to figure out if she was in anybody's line of sight. She must have judged no, because she proceeded to drag the unconscious - I hoped they were unconscious - bodies somewhere out of my sight. When she returned she motioned for us to get down there with her.

So, we did. We were on some kind of catwalk above everything else. I pointed out the obvious, "They're making something down there."

Jimena asked the obvious, "But what?"

Renamon answered the less obvious, "These," as she showed us something she must have been quick enough to grab without my noticing. It resembled a rifle, but like no rifle I had ever seen before. It was white in color and extremely lightweight, albeit rather bulky. "One of the guards was carrying that." I also couldn't find any sort of magazine or bullet storage compartment or whatever. Only a long, slim barrel, a scope, and a trigger marked the odd device as a rifle.

"Great, another weapon I don't know how to use." I slipped the pistol in my back pocket so I could hold the rifle with two hands. Kind of like a sniper, I knelt down and looked through the scope at the factory floor to see what was what. It looked like each guard party was no smaller than two, and at least one from all of them had one of those odd rifles. "Screw it. Might as well take it. But forget about the weapons. We're here to free Digimon. No unnecessary risk," I asserted.

"Agreed," concurred Renamon. So, we moved on. I brought the strange gun as we snuck around the catwalk. Renamon had to remove a couple more patrols, and she made it look easy. Always non-lethally, though, which was a relief. I had no doubt she could kill easily if she felt so inclined, and perhaps even if she just applied too much force. Another fear I had was that if too many men were unaccounted for for too long, suspicions would be raised and alarms would be raised soon after.

"Here we are." We finally found a ladder to take us down from the catwalk to the floor. There were a lot more unfriendlies there, so I thought the risk that came to my mind was necessary.

"Renamon, let's find a worker's quarters or prep room or something. If we could get disguises, we wouldn't have to beat up everyone we came across."

Renamon smirked. Again. She did that a lot. "Well, well, now you're using your head."

"¿Eh? ¿Qué hacemos?" I had to explain the plan in Spanish to Jimena, and she expressed a valid concern. "Esperemos que hay un traje de materiales peligrosos lo suficientemente pequeño como para mí." Jimena was right. If there wasn't a suit small enough for her, we would be kind of screwed.

"Workers quarters, if it's on this level, would be somewhere far away from everything else. So let's try and get as far from the factory floor as possible." Forget about knowing James Bond. I felt like I was James Bond!

We found the suit storage by following the trail of people headed toward the floor. If they had a suit, we went down the direction they came from. If they didn't, well, fuck them. By the way, we were extremely lucky that there must have been some really short person working the factory because we found a suit that only barely fit Jimena. "There, that should give us some breathing room. Renamon, since you're basically a ninja and these suits wouldn't hide your face, you ought to just watch from a distance and run interference when need be. Jimena, anda detrás mi con alguna distancia. Pretenderemos que no nos conocemos y que andamos por separado."

"¿Por qué?"

"Para que nadie sea sospechoso de ti si alguien me suene la cubierta. O te suene a ti." I thought it would be best if we walked with space from each other to seem independent of one another. That way, if one of our covers was blown, the other might be assumed to be an innocent worker, at least momentarily. "Does this anti hazardous materials protective suit make me look fat?" I finally got a chuckle from Renamon when I was actually trying to be funny! It was about damn time!

When Renamon disappeared I didn't even bother to look for her. I wouldn't find her, and that was the whole point. Damn, she was like a ninja or something. "Alright, Jimena. Espérate por dos segundos y luego sígueme." Wait ten seconds and then follow me.

"Bueno."

I decided to carry the rifle like a piece of cargo rather than a weapon. Less suspicious looking. If I was stopped and questioned maybe I could spin some kind of story. So I hoped anyway. Turned out I had to find out when I was stopped by a pair. "Hey, you know you're not supposed to take those off the floor," one remarked.

I reacted surprised that I had it. "Oh, shoot, whoops! I almost forgot I had it. This one's defective, though, the whole last bunch was." I thought I nailed it. Being a theater kid could go along way.

"Then take it back and then tell whoever you need to tell." Well, crap. The guards weren't taking that. But maybe I could salvage the situation.

"Will do, guys. Boss is three levels down, right? Is there a quicker way to get there? We can't shut down the floor and figure out the issue without his order." Heh, quicker than blindly groping for an entrance. But they didn't know that. Man, lying was fun.

One of the men, the one with the same rifle I had, rolled his eyes and gestured in the direction of the floor to the second. That one took my rifle and headed back there. Oh, well. It wasn't like I was going to shoot it. If I had to scare I still had the pistol under the suit.

As his partner walked off, the other had me follow him. Score! He would take me right to the Digimon detention level. Renamon could follow me quietly, but what about Jimena? I looked back at her. "Carla, come on. Let's go see the big boss man." I gestured, too, just to make sure she understood. We'd have to travel together if we were both to get there.

Guard didn't take that either. Only a bad guy could be this hard to deceive. "Hey, no. You get back to work. One is enough."

Looked like I'd have to go it alone. "Carla, escóndete y espera hasta que yo regrese con tu amigo. No te preocupes. Yo lo encontraré." I then turned to the guard and remarked, "Yeesh, these illegals. I gotta translate for all of them! Even our own government would rather have cheap Mexican labor over American citizens!" Yeah, I felt really bad about that as soon as I said it, but it was necessary.

I told Jimena to hide and wait until I arrived with Armadillomon and also not to worry. I'd find him. I was banking on the guard not speaking Spanish, and boy was I relieved that the risk paid off! I'd have to trust that Renamon would follow and Jimena could keep out of sight, because I could neither guarantee nor suggest either event.

The grunt got a few questions along the way, but no big deal. As he lead me down some sort of tunnel he was reprimanded maybe twice for apparently breaking policy by bringing a worker through there, but apparently those two guys had brought hookers down there to be discreet and my armed friend had that dirt over their heads in case they were to report him.

I didn't think they'd be an issue.

To her credit, Renamon was on point. At basement level four security seemed way tighter than the first. We couldn't walk three steps before we were stopped by a foursome in an isolated corridor, something I thought Renamon couldn't handle all on her own. But that didn't stop her from trying. "Dylan, back away!" she called from wherever before she dropped from the ceiling. How she got there was anyone's guess.

She wasn't being reckless. She knew for fact there was no weaseling our way past this security. I knew it, too. But this wouldn't be one quick engagement. It was five on two... or, one-and-a-half. Eh, screw it, make it one. I could hardly fight in that hazmat outfit. Maybe that's why I got grabbed.

The soldier tore my hat thing off and shoved a sidearm's barrel into my temple while his free arm kept me bound to his body. Yep, classic hostage maneuver. "Drop him, or I will drop you!" That wasn't Renamon. That came from another soldier.

I looked up to find Renamon had a captive of her own. His helmet was off, and she had her teeth around his neck. Damn, wouldn't that be a way to go? The remaining three soldiers all pointed their rifles at Renamon, but none fired. I wondered why nobody moved, but looking at the insignia on her hostage's shoulder told the whole story. He was a captain. It probably had to be him who made the call to shoot.

For a while we were in a silent standoff. My chest was heaving, and I felt the blood pulse through my head, making my temples throb with each heartbeat and reminding me there was a bullet just waiting to carve a hole through my skull.

Why does this shit always happen to me?

Renamon knew the situation was hopeless. She failed to subdue the men, not that I would have done better. So, she stepped back. Probably saved my life by doing so. When she pushed the captain away I saw blood running down his neck. Apparently she had bitten a little. She then bowed her head and apologized, "I'm sorry, Dylan." I thought she was apologizing for getting us caught, but she wasn't.

I thought something was wrong when she sprang into the air, and I was right. She was using some sort of Digimon power. It looked like several shards of broken glass were spontaneously appearing in the air, but they were almost blindingly shiny. What was it? Some kind of diversionary tactic? Renamon declared, "Diamond Storm!" before the shards simultaneously shot like bullets right at all the soldiers.

I needn't have feared being hit, although I chose to anyway. While I cowered, the "diamonds" struck the soldiers all precisely down the center of the forehead with the precision of a SEAL sniper. Even helmets couldn't stop the diamonds. That wasn't the first time I'd seen someone die before my eyes - some poor guy at the lake drowned when I was seven - but it was the first time I'd seen someone coldly murdered. I guess there was Kuwagamon, but... That wasn't a human. And Kuwagamon didn't bleed.

Heads hit the floor, and blood pooled around my shoes. "Oh, my god... H-holy shit..." I wouldn't say I was traumatized, but if you think violent video games and TV shows prepare you for that, I'm gonna go ahead and inform you that you're wrong. I was, at least. I jumped away from the blood pool, but when I'd step there was still an imprint of blood on the floor in the shape of my shoe's sole. Sorry for the graphic description of the scene, but... damn...

"I had no other choice!" the fox Digimon asserted. And I don't think I had ever heard her emotional before that. She was defensive. She had lost just a bit of her cool.

"I..." I kind of stammered. "I really hope they were bad people serving a bad cause now." That was the only thing that could maybe justify their deaths in my mind. With a grimace and closed eyes, I picked up a rifle while Renamon, once more cool as a cucumber, frisked the body of the fallen captain.

Being James Bond didn't feel so cool right then.

"Oh, here we are," she declared as she extracted a key card.

Once I had that strange rifle again I was tense. Time to get my head back in the game. "Renamon, we've gotta start moving. We have only minutes before alarms start blaring."

"Then what are you doing? Run!" Oh, right. Good point. I heard someone call for a check-in from all units over the dead men's radios, and I didn't stick around to find out how many made their reports. Renamon and I sprinted down the dimly lit hallway. "Enough lingering! We're short on time!" the Digimon called from ahead of me.

"Hey! I didn't exactly run track in middle school!"

A patrol came our way after a minute or so. Nothing Renamon couldn't handle with some solid ninja moves. But after the next patrol there was a straggler who rounded the corner moments later, gun raised. Renamon was unprepared. So, I raise my rifle. I didn't think like I normally do. I didn't consider the consequences like I always strived to. I fired with a deafening crack, and I regret nothing more in my life than I regret that one ill-informed decision.

I'm glad I didn't kill the guy, but I shocked myself by having hit him. Right in the chest. But it wasn't a bullet that was fired from the barrel, but a quick bolt of some sort, like a lightning bolt. When it struck my adversary he collapsed on the spot. "Oh, shit!" I screamed. Oh, man, I really hoped he wasn't dead! I rushed to check his pulse, hoping, almost praying for the best... and I got it. His pulse was there. "Oh, my god... Okay, he's not dead," I breathed.

I couldn't find any reason for the government to need to manufacture some sort of stun gun, though. If that was all this was, it was fairly unimpressive. I thought there had to be more. I didn't have long I think it, though, because more footsteps approached. They were faster than normal. Their owners knew we were there. "Renamon, get set more on the way!" She disappeared, but I didn't think she left me.

Whether or not I served her purposes, I couldn't deny by then Renamon was reliable if not trustworthy. She could have killed me with that Diamond Storm attack, and perhaps that was a possibility she had even acknowledged and accepted. Perhaps that was why she apologized, even. But, I dunno. There was so much mystery behind her actions that judging her seemed difficult no matter how much I wanted to and how hard I tried.

Oh, look, guys with guns coming down the hallway. Right, guess I better do something about that. I took cover against the corner with my back to the wall and crouched; I knew they'd expect me at eye level from one episode of Psych, where Henry was giving Sean one of those cop lessons. Anyway, if that rifle wouldn't kill, I felt much less guilty about rounding the corner and popping off a few lightning-bolt-things. Had to make it quick though, but I know I got two hits before falling back into cover because I saw the first one fall and heard the second just as I returned to safety. Problem was, there were six more. I'm glad I chose then to duck, because that's when the automatic weapons began to shoot back.

Shit! I felt a sharp sting on the shoulder closest to the corner, and I feared I had been shot. I was right. But it was no big deal, just a graze that left a scratch reminiscent of a schoolyard scrape. Way too close! I couldn't be so reckless. There were no extra lives or respawns in this game. "Shit... I forgot, James Bond's cover always gets blown, and he always has to shoot his way out."

"Is that a Digimon?"

"Put it down!"

I guess Renamon struck then, which made me think it was once more safe to round the corner. New challenge, though: hitting Renamon was probably a bad idea, and she was a little preoccupied with, well, kicking ass. Three soldiers remained. So I looked down the scope to be safe and was surprised to find it didn't magnify nearly so much as the other one did. Way better for close quarters. And that's why I managed to drop the final three before Renamon got the chance.

I was shocked at how easily I was handling the weapon. I thought shooting would be a lot harder in real life, but that rifle just felt so right in my hands. It was weird. "Don't just stand there!" Renamon scolded me after I admired our handiwork, "Get going!" She then disappeared to wherever she hides once more. I thought I'd have to ask Brad or Josh whether Renamon can turn invisible when I saw them.

I moved on. An alarm started blaring, and when it did I was 137% sure the mission was fucked, but there was no way I'd just shoot my way back out. Maybe hooking up with more Digimon would be my only way out. That's what kept me running up until a solid metal door locked by a card key. "Renamon! Where's the key?" I called to anywhere. The answer was a key card being thrown down from the ceiling and swiping itself, but as soon as I looked up, the ceiling area was empty. Of course.

I picked the card up myself and threw myself through the door. The two stationed guards had their weapons already pointed at it, but Renamon still sprang to subdue them in time. Shots were fired, but not at any living things. I may have had the weapon, but in any engagement I think Renamon had a better chance in any engagement. That's why I ordered, "Watch my back, Renamon! I'm setting the Digimon free!" as I kicked the door back shut behind me.

We had reached the detention area, and just in this room there were several Digimon locked up and shackled in chains, even. I guess they must be hard to hold down. I worried about breaking the shackles, but when I swiped the key to free the Digimon of this block, the shackles all unlocked when the cell doors swung open.

None of them emerged from their cells, though. So, after rehearsing it in my head once or twice, I shouted the rallying call, "Listen up! We're setting the Digimon free! If you've got a human partner, I'll do everything I can to get you to him or her. But right now, I need your help. We're fighting our way out of here!" A few unsure feet emerged from their cells after that.

One little Digimon that resembled a sea lion with a Mohawk looked me square in the eye and asked me, "What should we do?" just waiting to be given an order.

Now we were getting somewhere! "Ideally, run amok and free however many Digimon you can. But I need to find a certain Digimon, Armadillomon, and bring him to his partner. Can you lead me there?"

The Digimon didn't say yes or no. He whistled. "Hey! Dracomon!" A short little dragon Digimon responded to the spot. I guess the name fit. "You knew Armadillomon, right? Help the human find him. Everyone else, let's go, go, go! We're busting out!" I guess that Mohawk Digimon was respected, because asses were gotten into gear when he was done. Digimon began to scatter.

"Follow me!" Dracomon suggested as he ran off down another hall.

As I pursued him I called back, "Stick with me, Renamon!" and then I trusted that she would. Guards from the next cell blocks were on their way, apparently aware of our penetration to the detention area. Soon as I saw two I raised my weapon and fired. Two shots, two bolts, two dropped soldiers, and one missed bullet. Good enough, but I'd better be faster; they wouldn't all miss.

"Why are you helping us?" Dracomon called back at me as I chased him to the next block.

While I freed the next block of Digimon I shouted to him over the resulting commotion, "Just a good person, I guess! Besides, I'm a fugitive, too! We close to Armadillomon?"

"Almost! Next block! Hey, Augumon, Patamon, help us get there!" Two more Digimon flanked me as we took off again, and with Renamon watching my back I couldn't help but think I was in command of the greatest Digimon army on the face of the Earth. Probably the only one, too, but don't ruin it for me.

The next pair of guards remained in that cell block guarding the Digimon, and my team performed admirably. Patamon performed some kind of air attack that blew one soldier right off his feet before Renamon ambushed the second and put him out. Once he was finished she choked out the first before he could get his feet back under him but stopped short of killing him. The rest of us didn't even break stride. "Guys, find Armadillomon and bring him to me," I ordered my squad before I swiped the key once more and opened the area up.

Renamon chose that moment to drop down beside me, and when she spoke it was almost a hiss. "Don't forget our deal, Dylan. You must free all of the Digimon."

Oh, right. That. "Ugh, damnit! Fine, but where the hell are Brad and Josh?"

"Perhaps they're caught in fighting above ground. But does it matter? Either way they're not not here. You'll have to escape by yourself." She didn't seem nearly so perturbed by that conclusion as I was. Maybe she even saw it coming. But I was not happy about the situation, so I grumbled in frustration. And that was all I had the liberty to do before I had to get my head back in the game.

"Renamon, do me a favor and bring Jimena down here. A digivolved Digimon could be what we need to turn this battle in our favor." Renamon called for a few Digimon to follow her then, and she split with them, presumedly to retrieve Jimena. I didn't exaggerate by calling it a battle. Shouts and gunfire were barely audible over the alarms, but they were all over. Shoot, what had I done?

"I found Armadillomon!" It was Augumon who brought the Digimon over. Yep, that was him. Looked just like the picture Jimena showed me. Man, at least that was one consolation. I completed my primary objective.

"Armadillomon, do you speak English?"

"Yeah, I do." Oh, thank fuck! That would make my life a hell of a lot easier!

"Armadillomon, my name is Dylan. I've got Jimena upstairs. Some more Digimon have gone to get her. Until she gets down here, I need your help freeing the rest of the Digimon here. Are you in?"

The armadillo Digimon perked up and gave me a confident nod of affirmation! "Sure thing, Dylan! Just tell me where you want me!" Yes! Maybe the mission wasn't so fucked! My army was growing by the second! I might actually get out of there alive! "But who's Jimena?"

...uh-oh.


	9. I star in the new Jurassic Park movie

Well, this was awkward. "Uh... do I have the right Armadillomon?"

"Well, I'm the only one here!" Yeah, not good. I had to figure this out.

I snapped my fingers in the air, for all the good it did, and yelled out, "'Ey! Dracomon! Get over here!" he heard my call, though, and came running over. "What the hell is going on down here? Why are digimon being held prisoner?"

Initially the answer was just predictable. "They've been doing some of these... weird experiments on us!" But finding out that "Armadillomon isn't the first digimon to lose his memory in here!" was not a pleasant surprise. "And it's not just regular amnesia. The ones who forget still remember almost all of their pasts but always forget their partner and all the time they spent with them. But I don't know why they're doing it!"

"Maybe you know something about these?" I showed my rifle to the little dragon digimon. "Three levels up, there was a factory manufacturing these. What are they for?" Oh, man, a grim thought occurred. "These aren't... this isn't an anti-digimon weapon is it?" Dracomon's silence was very telling. "...fine. At least I know the what. The why can wait. 'Ey, everyone listening, frisk every fallen guard for a card key! If he's got one, take it and move onto other cell blocks to free the digimon there! I can't do all the work myself! And for fuck's sake, don't kill anyone you don't have to! Dracomon, Augumon, Patamon, Armadillomon, stick with me. We're gonna meet up with Renamon and Jimena, and hopefully a few digidestined will meet up with us after that! Now let's move!"

The horde of digimon scattered, and I trusted they'd get the job done. I was glad to have my digimon squad with me as I was to head back through the tunnel. Lucky I now had a key card to unlock it for myself. But I guess more soldiers were sent down there to contain us because, well, more soldiers came to contain us. Soon as the tunnel hatch opened, I was welcomed to the threshold by bullets. Good thing I expected such a thing and ducked to the side behind cover. One of the digimon, though, didn't have such quick reflexes (read as "strong, cowardly self-preservation instincts") as I. Augumon was right there to eat lead. He didn't eat lead, though, but an electric bolt from a weapon like mine.

I found out what the strange rifles were for then. They weren't for humans at all. When Augumon was shot he wasn't non-lethally stunned. His body just... evaporated. Like Kuwagamon's. I knew what that meant. And for once in my life I wanted to kill a man because of it. But I didn't, not for any noble cause, but because I favored the seemingly infinite ammo and reliability of my anti-Digimon rifle over fifteen rounds I probably couldn't make connect. The bastard was lucky I found Armadillomon and had to return him to Jimena. Otherwise I would have stopped to shoot him and all his stunned buddies on my way out. But from a hindsight perspective, I'm glad I didn't.

Renamon and Jimena met me along the length of the tunnel, and as Jimena laid eyes on him those aforementioned eyes widened, and she broke into a sprint at him. "Armadillomon!" She screeched. Good thing she was wearing jeans, because she dropped to her knees and slid the last few inches right into hug for him.

Man, the scene just broke my heart. A little girl was so worried about her best friend in two worlds... someone who saw her as a complete stranger. Armadillomon have as much of a hug back as his body design let him, but the look on his face had no love, only guilt. And it wasn't looking at her but me.

Armadillo shook his head, and I got the nonverbal message. "Don't tell her." It was a big move of him. He just went ahead and trusted that this girl was his friend and partner, and he didn't want to cause her any more pain even if she was a stranger to him. I don't know if that's true friendship, but it's definitely being a big person. That didn't make the scene any less heartbreaking, though. Ouch, straight to the feels.

Three familiar faces showed up in the tunnel then, riding on a fourth. "Dylan, what the fuck did you do?" Bradley asked me as he hopped off of Garurumon.

"Do you seriously think now is the time for telling the story? Just get us out of here! Can you carry us all, Garurumon?"

"And ten more if I wanted!" the Digimon declared proudly.

"Good enough for me. Everyone grab a weapon!" I ran back a little ways and grabbed three more of the anti-Digimon rifles. "And for fuck's sake, don't hit any Digimon or I'll shoot you myself," I warned before mounting Garurumon and pulling Jimena up with Armadillomon. No I probably wouldn't have, but I was in the army squad commander zone.

Soon as we all had a grip on a chunk of fur, Garurumon growled and turned to charge in the opposite direction, trampling another wave of soldiers in the process. Oops, didn't see you there. Somehow or another, Renamon was following right behind us and keeping pace on her stride alone, and I saw she was smirking right at me, eye contact and all. I guess she approved of my performance. But I still didn't buy that she just wanted me to step up and be a man of action. There had to be some more pragmatic motive for her involvement in my life as of yet.

Not that I had time to think about it. I was too busy trying my best to shoot one-armed from a giant running lion-tiger-wolf. Did I mention the fight with Exveemon didn't make me any less afraid or riding things? Well, maybe I'd trust him a bit more after he saved my life, but Garurumon wasn't him. So... I might have been popping off bolts a bit more liberally than needed be. But the job was done.

Security pretty much disappeared when we got back up to the ground floor. I guessed they were busy trying to contain the Digimon. Heh, I'd seen what they could do. Good luck, guys. From there breaking out was a cinch. Garurumon led us down a couple luckily wide corridors until he went ahead and crashed through a set of glass doors because, well, opening doors is for mere mortals, I guess.

Shit, the sunlight was blinding! I hadn't gotten any in hours, keeping my eyes open any width was painful. But if I kept them that way I'd never adjust, so I just blinked rapidly to try and minimize my suffering. But besides bright, it was also oddly noisy outside like it was down below in the detention area. A lot of it was scared screaming, probably the last factory workers to be evacuated.

But then Jimena screamed. I screamed after that because something tackled me and sent me rolling right off Garurumon's back, and Garurumon whimpered soon after. Oddly enough, though, falling didn't hurt. I landed in something soft. Sand? I opened my eyes and found out why my eyes really hurt so much. It wasn't just sunny, but the whole area was like the Sahara Desert, nothing but bright sand in every direction.

The entity that tackled me was Renamon, who got me back on my feet by slipping her foot under my back and lifting it briskly while keeping her arms in front of me to keep me from falling forward. Damn, is every Digimon stronger than I? The entity that hit Garurumon was... whoa. Some sort of triceratops Digimon? "Monochromon!" Jimena declared then, answering the query of his name. Because, you know, that mattered a whole lot.

But why did a Digimon attack us? "Monochromon, what the hell? Is that the thanks we get for springing you?" I yelled at the creature. Then it turned its gaze to me, and all of a sudden I regretted opening my big mouth.

I thought I was saved when Jimena declared, "¡Armadillomon, digievoluciona!" While brandishing her digivice. I'm sure you can figure out what that was supposed to mean. A light flared from the machine, but nothing happened to Armadillomon.

"¡No puedo!" Yep, Armadillomon couldn't digivolve.

"¿Necesitas energía?"

"¡No! ¡Comí hace sólo una hora!" It sounded like energy wasn't a problem like it was for Veemon in the tree. But then what could be stalling his evolution? I figured government experimentation had something to do with it. Well, that was bad. For some weird reason Shoutmon couldn't digivolve, Renamon needed a human partner, and Garurumon - aw, crap, he must have run out of energy himself just getting there. He had reverted back to Gabumon.

So that left my party three scared teenagers, one helpless preteen, one incapacitated Digimon, and three Digimon that couldn't digivolve. Those teenagers were scared for a good reason. But we had anti-Digimon weapons, too! I started unloading on the hostile Digimon, and it howled... in annoyance. I was just pissing it off. Some anti-Digimon weapon! Maybe it only worked on digivolved Pokemon.

Oh, look at that. There was Monochromon charging right at me. Now, when threatened, all creatures have what's called primal a fight, flight, or fright response. Most people forget that last one. It's when you completely freeze up. It can be an evolutionarily advantageous response, like when a chameleon freezes to avoid catching the eye of a predator. It can also be evolutionarily disadvantageous like, say, when a giant digimon has a line on you and is on its way to gore you with its horn. But it's a primal response, not something you and I really get to consciously choose to do. So that's why I did it.

"Guys? Someone's gotta digivolve!" I cried out helplessly as I did best. That didn't stop the tip of Monochromon's horn from poking me in the stomach, though.

But something did stop it from piercing the aforementioned stomach, and by something I mean a giant spiked mace that seemed to come out of nowhere. It didn't, though. I've never actually seen a giant spiked mace come out of nowhere. That would be weird and illogical. What actually happened was that the mace was attached to a tail. The tail was attached to a digimon. The digimon resembled an Ankylosaur, which might be why Jimena stammered "A-Ankylomon!" in shock upon seeing the creature. The name fit. That was definitely Armadillomon digivolved. Shit, that was good timing. The hit from the mace knocked the creature over on its side,

"Armadillomon, don't kill him!" I yelled at the friendly digimon as I jumped back. "I wanna know why he's doing this!" I didn't think that would be a big problem. Despite that hit, Monochromon's shell-like armor took the blow, and he didn't seem too fazed beyond being knocked off balance.

"Dragon Wheel!" What? Was that Renamon? The short answer is no. The long answer is kind of. Some sort of mystical blue flame encompassed Monochromon's underside, and that made him truly flail and roar in agony. Maybe that's why my shots did nothing. They all hit armor. But back in the moment, my eyes flew to the source of the fire and met Renamon... sort of. She was a quadruped now who sported nine tails instead of one. Shit, did she digivolve, too? Maybe Ankylomon found the strength somewhere to connect with Jimena's digivice or whatever, but Renamon? How could that have been possible?

Oh, well. Not the time or place. With Monochromon's underbelly exposed maybe I could actually be intimidating. So I raised my gun and declared, "Stay down or I'll put you down!" of course trying to look all intense like a commando or something stupid like that which I could never pull off. Predictably, he rose anyway, and predictably, I refused to fire. I didn't think I could kill on a whim - it would have to be a reflex if ever.

So, I jumped back and let the giant monsters take care of their business. Man, it was like something out of a Japanese monster movie. Ankylomon was tough as a goddamn tank! Even Momochromon's horn knocked him over occasionally but did little else. Lucky for him, his underside was armored, too. That was lucky because Monochromon often got the advantage over him but just as often failed to do any real damage.

The fox Digimon was more cautious, mostly circling the two heavyweight contenders and jumping in only when she had an easy attack. She was probably right to do so since she could have gotten mashed if either Digimon so much as stepped carelessly. But she wasn't really getting much done, and she knew it after some frustrated minutes. Monochromon would not seem to go down, so she returned to us humans along with Gabumon and Shoutmon. "It's not safe here, children. We must go!" she ordered us.

This may come as a shock to you, but Renamon's digivolution and I didn't quite see eye-to-eye on the issue. "Under no circumstances! We can't trust the government to contain that thing or treat it right even if they do. It's a threat to whoever is left with the responsibility of handling it. It has to be stopped here and now." I turned my eyes back to the two beasts locked in mortal combat then. It was more like one beast and one thinking, feeling thing, though.

Wait a minute.

"What the hell...?" I muttered to myself before pointing out to the group, "Look at that thing! It's acting and fighting like a wild animal! Like it's gone feral!" I already knew someone was messing with the digimon's minds. It didn't seem so far-fetched. But the ramifications were extreme if my theory was true. "Does that remind you all of anyone? Like some fire Digimon or maybe a giant beetle Digimon?"

Bradley wasn't too bright, never was, but it clicked on Josh instantly. "You think they-"

"Yep, that is exactly what I think."

"But they'd need access to the digital world!"

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"We don't have time for this!" The fox interrupted. "Ankylomon is tiring!" Oh, shit, he was. He was just trying to stop getting hit because that was about all he could do in his position. Wait, the digital world!

"Josh, Brad, Jimena, send Monochromon back to the digital world! Is the firewall open?"

Jimena checked. "¡Esta abierto!"

"Then go!" I guess Renamon approved of the plan, because she crouched to be mounted by the three digidestined. When they were mounted she took off, leaving a dust trail.

Me, I was just glad to be done with riding for the day.

As the gold fox Digimon circled Monochromon, Brad, Jimena, and Josh dismounted from a safe distance to both sides and behind Monochromon. "Ankylomon, ¡mantén su atención!" Jimena ordered her partner, telling him to keep Monochromon's attention on him. That wasn't hard. The hostile Digimon seemed more concerned with the other dino than three little humans. But those humans snuck up on him and sent him packing right back to the digital world before he even knew what hit him (which was just a digivice signal, really).

The abrupt end to the fight was nothing like it was in the movies. Well, maybe a little. It was the desert, so there was a lot of dust in the air that settled once it quit being disturbed. There was no fanfare of dramatic victory music, though, or the sound effect of wind blowing. We all just let out an exhale of relieved stress, and then it was quiet. Yeesh, that scene was the thanks I got for finally stepping up and being a hero?

I threw my rifle down, followed suit by the handgun, and just collapsed back into the sand. Shit, that whole crusade left me more physically tired than I had thought. I must have been running on fumes and adrenaline. "Shit, man, we gotta figure out how you keep digivolving Digimon!" Brad declared as he offered me a hand to help me up. I didn't much feel like getting up but I took it anyway. "Come on, we gotta get you home."

Yeah, right. "No way, bud. The Feds know who I am and where I live. If I go home they'll just pick me right back up - or worse. I wouldn't be too happy or tolerant if my prisoner sprang all my other prisoners." Oh, man, that would mean - "Guys... I'm a fugitive from the American government now!" The english-speaking among us exchanged anxious looks as Ankylomon and the Digimon formerly known as Renamon devolved, but none of them were more anxious than mine. "Hey! Somebody say something! I'm kind of having a life crisis here!"

"Well..." Josh shifted uncomfortably. "I can think of one place the government wouldn't find you. No secret agents in the area... no extradition..."

"Hell, no!" Brad interjected. "Okay, he doesn't have to hide out in the digital world. I know a guy who-"

"He's right." That was me who reluctantly but necessarily acknowledged the plan's merit. "And he's even more right than he thinks. They might think to look for me in the digital world, but we don't even know that they can get there. And even if they can they don't know the place. You do." I pointed at the whole company. "Besides... I need to meet up with a couple old friends."

"Old friends?" Josh echoed skeptically, "You mean Veemon? Now's not the time to make a social call."

"I'm not gonna lie, that's one of my motives. But I have more, better motives. For starters, I don't just mean Veemon when I say old friends. I mean Gallantmon. We have to figure out what this is... how I can cause digivolution." My anxiety rose just acknowledging that. "No, we didn't find him before. But that doesn't make doing so any less important." I swallowed a big lump in my throat before concluding, "One way or another I'm in the middle of this. What you and I think about that fact doesn't affect whether it is a fact."

Brad was easier to sway than Joshua, but Joshua still had to admit I was right. Shoutmon was still skeptical though. "Okay, so we go blindly looking for Gallantmon. Again. Is that seriously your plan? Because that didn't work so well the first time we tried!"

"No, no it did not," I acknowledged, "But even if we don't find him we still need to find Veemon again. For a good reason. I think he's a fugitive, too." All I got was confused looks in response. "Right, guess you want elaboration. Jimena, didn't you say you were extracted from the digital world by some outside force?"

Armadillomon was nice enough to translate that for us, and she enthusiastically replied, "Sí, fue raro," confirming my question.

"And what happened to Veemon?"

That took some moments to sink in, and when it did Josh was the first to mutter, "...holy shit."

"I'm not gonna pretend to know if they were targeted or lucky catches - maybe even unlucky catches - but they knew a Digimon had been to my house. And you know what? If they don't know you all helped him escape from them, they know you were here to get me at the very least." My eyes wandered to Josh, to Bradley, to Shoutmon, to Gabumon, to Armadillomon, and finally to Renamon. "You all have to go into hiding, too. And we'd probably be better off doing it together. Because we're all fugitives now." I then looked to Renamon and Armadillomon. "You two, a word please?"

They were nice enough to oblige me and follow me away from the rest of the group. "First off, Armadillomon. Besides a ton of thanks for keeping us all safe there... Thanks for sparing Jimena's feelings. And I'm sorry for everything about this whole situation falling on you."

Armadillomon shook his head in rejection of my apology. "I think being on the run with a partner would beat life in a cage every time. It seems to me the worst that could happen is I make a new friend." Sure, I smiled. Who wouldn't have? But for Jomena my heart still broke.

I thanked him again before waving him off and turning to Renamon. "I have one more reason for wanting to go back to the digital world, but I didn't want to say in front of them. They'd think it's silly. But if I'm stuck in this mess, I have to help them. And you said something at the top of that tree could help them. Since you're a part of this now, I want to know what you know."

Renamon just crossed her arms and smirked arrogantly. "Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?" she didn't ask that indignantly. She was more amused and sarcastic. "You're a natural leader, you know that?" That, surprisingly enough, was not. I guess when I thought about my performance during the breakout I had to acknowledge that, but the word just didn't fit me in my view. Leader.

"I'm not going to pretend to know where you came from or what you're motivated by, or even how it is you travel between worlds so conveniently, but I'll definitely have a couple questions for you once things settle down. And I won't take your cryptic messages as answers forever."

"I'd be disappointed if you did."

Renamon scurried off, vanished, whatever, but it felt like it did back before all hell broke loose. I couldn't see her, but I could just feel her eyes bearing down on me, judging my every move.

"Hey, Dylan! Let's gather those Digimon and get outta here before the firewall closes! It doesn't stay open forever, remember?" Shoutmon yelled over at me. Oh, right. I did say I'd help them, didn't I? Too late to go back on my word now. It looked too late to go back at all, really.

From then on I'd have to quit trying to cling to who I was and what I had. I thought I had lost both of those things by that point anyway. From then on there was no going back. Only forward. "Yeah, I'll be right there soon!" I called over in response before muttering to myself, "Wherever 'there' is..." There were still some questions to be answered, though. Like, why was the government messing with the minds of digimon? Was Armadillomon's failure to digivolve because of the experimentation? And kind of an extreme thought... did that have anything to do with the weakening state of the firewall?


	10. I learn about the birds and the bees

"Remind me why you left him behind again?" Thomas called over the wind thundering past our ears. Now, my guess is you want a bit of backstory, seeing as before now I had never mentioned anybody named Thomas, not had I ever given a reason for the wind to get in the way of my hearing. You probably don't appreciate that I played the pronoun game with you either. Lucky for you, you caught me in a generous mood. I apologize for tossing all that on you without explanation and will now rectify my mistake.

The group, Jimena, Josh, Bradley, Armadillomon, Shoutmon, Gabumon, and I, took a couple days in the digital world as a sort of vacation or holiday. Renamon went off and did, I dunno, Renamon stuff. It wasn't just vacation for the heck of it, mind you. A lot was actually for my sake, admittedly, my mental health. I had just been through hell in terms of the strain on how much stimulation I could handle. The only thing keeping me focused during the breakout was, well, my intense focus on my task. But when the task was complete all that leftover energy and intensity lingered for hours more, which triggered one of my episodes of hyper stimulation that autism can cause.

Think of it kind of like an anxiety attack. I feel like a prisoner of my own senseless thoughts when it happens, and it usually leaves me curled up in a ball and bawling my eyes out. It's not pretty to watch, but that part is actually not so bad for me. That's a conscious choice I would make, not an involuntary response, and it was the fastest way to get through the episode. "Fast" is a relative term, though. After that shit, I needed the whole rest of the day to just cry it out and even fell asleep in the act.

After that I needed a second day to let it sink in that life as I knew it was more or less over. I needed more than that, actually, but that was all we could afford to waste. No waterworks on day two, but I've _definitely_ had better days. There was a human and Digimon flanking me the whole day, and unlike an episode, their company was welcome then. The Digimon was usually Gabumon or Armadillomon. Shoutmon excluded himself, and that was fine by me. I didn't think emotional stuff was his forte. The human was almost always Jimena for the same reason.

Nobody ever did get around to telling her Armadillomon didn't know her. How ironic that she felt bad for me.

I would have like more than a day and a half, but life isn't so nice like that. I'm shocked it was as nice as it was. A course of action had to be taken. It was generally agreed upon even by me that if I was stuck in the digital world I may as well have made myself useful. Heh, déjà vú. Except now we had knew knowledge: somehow or another, I had the ability to make Digimon digivolve without a digivice. Any Digimon, it seemed, because I had by then done it four times with three different Digimon. So, new focus was on making that happen at will rather than by accident. That's why I spent the remaining hours of the afternoon trying to make a Digimon digivolve.

It didn't work.

And that brings us to day three. By then even I thought sitting around and doing nothing was extremely boring. There's a reason I summarized it instead of going through every detail. It was boring. But things got less so on day three. We may have been chasing the same old pipe dream, but we wanted me to learn to cause digivolution... And that meant talking to Gallantmon.

The good news is we had an idea of where he could be hanging out. Armadillomon pointed out he was part of some legendary group, the Royal Knights, and they have their own palace and everything. Yes, it sounds silly. I did say it was a legend. The digidestined were supposed to be just legend, too, but we know better about that, don't we?

Apparently Brad and Josh were friends with someone who was friends with a Royal Knight, but that person didn't know where he was. We narrowed it down to two areas to search, but if we split up both groups would have been way too small for comfort. So, the guys called in a few of their acquaintances that were already in the digital world since the firewall wasn't letting a com signal through to the real world right then.

I was right about the digidestined being globalized. Besides Jimena and Armadillomon, I was accompanied by the Pakistani boy Aman and Thomas, a dark-skinned Canadian. And that's the story of how I ended up standing on the Talon of a Hawkmon, searching the skies for a Royal Knight.

"I didn't know how to make him devolve," was my answer to Thomas' question, "It wasn't like I could bring him home! Besides, the main idea was just to get him back to the digital world, and we succeeded!"

"And that worked out real well, didn't it?" Thomas sarcastically shot back. Sounds like we were talking about Veemon, doesn't it? Well, that's because we were. Veemon had the ability to digivolve into a Royal Knight, apparently. Two of them if I understood right. The guy who knew the Royal Knight I mentioned before? It was me.

I guess I was kind of friends with a celebrity. Cool, right?

Riding on Hawkmon's talon was hardly ideal for me, but at least I got to stand. Still, at least it beat riding with Aman; his partner was something called Kunemon. She was some sort of larva, so I was hoping her digivolution would be some kind of butterfly or something not disgusting. But nope, it was the the bee digimon, Flymon. Soon as I saw it I knew who I would rather have ridden with.

"That's around where we last were. Maybe we could land there?" I pointed to the tree. Yes, you know which tree. Just to sate her curiosity I asked Thomas if we could make a flyover to find out what Renamon kept rambling about. "No good! Hawkmon can't fly that high! He's too heavy for that thinner air to support him!" Thomas then pat our taxi's leg. "No offense, big guy!"

Well damn, I had to get up there somehow! Oh, well. Finding my missing friend was a bit more important momentarily, but damn, she knew more than she let on, and my curiosity wouldn't let it go.

I slipped a little when we hit a little low-altitude turbulence, so I hugged Hawkmon's leg. Unfortunately the rifle slung over my back began to slip because of it and fell down to my ankles, flowing freely in the breeze and bound only by the strap. Phew, that could have been bad. Very carefully I bent one of my legs, reached back with one arm, and managed to reset the strap's position. Even over the wind I could hear Thomas visibly grumble. "I don't like that you kept that thing!"

"What choice do I have? Until I can trigger digivolution at will, this thing is all I have to defend myself!"

" _Well, I like it_ ," Aman's voice snickered over the digivice. He was flying too far away for shouting, but I forgot we had been on speaker. " _It makes you look like one of those American action heroes_ ," he joked. " _You're a regular G.I. Joe!"_ Good thing Aman spoke English, or we would have had a huge problem. I could speak Spanish, but Urdu? Yeah, right.

"Hey, man, even if Veemon's around here, how do you expect to see him from this far up?" Thomas asked me.

Thing is, I didn't spend day two sitting around and doing nothing. I was becoming a bit more familiar with my rifle friend. Nobody had targets just lying around, so I shot at trees. I'm not gonna lie, it was fun. Way more fun than shooting at people. It didn't really improve my aim, though. Something good came out of it, though; I became more familiar with the weapon. In particular, what would help me right then was figuring out how to adjust the scope.

Once I had gotten it zoomed and focused, I used the rifle scope to survey the ground. I kept my finger off the trigger, though. No matter how unsteady my hands were under the circumstances, I still didn't want to take any remote risk of shooting something I didn't want to shoot! "Hey, Hawkmon, try and keep steady!" I requested to keep the image from being so damn shaky. Slowing down and steadying out didn't help much, but at least I could make sense of what I saw.

I

There wasn't much to do while searching in silence, and Thomas didn't seem to go for that. That's probably why he asked me, "So why's your government experimenting on Digimon?"

"How the hell should I know?" I got a bit defensive. "All I know is what I saw. Monochromon, I have no idea how he digivolved, but he was fighting like some rabid animal. Every enemy Digimon I know has been, actually." I shook my head at the thought. "I dunno, man, maybe the USA wants to weaponize Digimon!"

" _It wouldn't surprise me_ ," Aman remarked, " _This coming from the country that first created and used the atomic bomb? Only makes sense."_

"Hey, leave history out of it and stick to evidence, Aman," I scolded him, "Unless you'd like me to bring up how I'd have countless death penalties if I lived in your country."

I looked across and saw him shrug. " _Fine. I guess we can't all be perfect like Canada._ "

"Oh, please, have you been to Ontario?" Thomas cracked, "I can only describe it as the world's biggest ghetto! And don't get me started on those snobby French people!" I feel kind of bad for laughing, but I did. It was a tense time. Any and all humor would have been welcome, really.

"The missing link just seems to be why some of those Digimon are ending up in the digital world!" I continued, "I find it hard to believe Uncle Sam is sending them back intentionally if he's trying to weaponize them. There's gotta be something more going on!"

" _Maybe they escaped_ ," Josh suggested over the digivice. " _You did_ , _remember?"_

"Even if they escaped custody, how would they return to the digital world?" I reminded him, "The only way we did it is because we had digivices. I can only see those Digimon reaching the digital world if they were sent there intentionally!" Oh, lightbulb in the brain. "Maybe the government is sending them back because that feral, out-of-control state isn't what they want to happen, and they can't control that kind of power!"

" _But how can they access the digital world in the first place?_ " That voice was Leone's, from some country called Croatia. That's okay, I had never heard of it before either.

Josh interjected, " _We did. It's not crazy to think someone else could find out how_."

 _"Wouldn't that mean there's a digidestined working for the American government?_ " Oh, shit. Aman's far-fetched idea didn't seem so far-fetched after two seconds of consideration.

 _"_ That wouldn't shock me," I conceded, "I know few countries' peoples are as patriotic - and susceptible to suggestion - as mine."

" _Hey!_ " Josh cried indignantly over the digivice.

"See?" I reiterated with a slight chuckle.

Maybe you're wondering why Josh, Brad, Jimena, and Leone weren't with me. Well, they were searching possible location number two, the area surrounding the Gotsumon village because that's where I first met Veemon. Man, now that I actually needed him I felt kind of stupid for leaving him behind. But how could I have known what the future held for me? That's my defense, I guess, my excuse.

My heart stopped. There, coming my way over the horizon! No way, how could that have been? He was supposed to be _dead_! Exveemon shot that digimon with that laser attack, but somehow or another there was Kuwagamon rushing right for us! I guess all that stuff I had been hearing about digimon death not being permanent was right, but that was the first example I saw. If I had time for actual thought, I would have wondered how exactly that process of rebirth worked. What Kuwagamon was doing in the area wasn't hard to figure out; I guess it was his tree at the end of the day, after all.

"Guys, that digimon's hostile!" I shouted out as I pointed at it. Crap, was Kuwagamon back for a rematch? I was back on its territory, after all, and I couldn't imagine he would be real happy happy to see me back there. "Get set for a fight!"

" _Think you can handle it alone?_ " Brad asked us over the comms.

" _It's two champions against one_ ," Aman observed, " _I almost feel guilty about how easily we will win. Almost."_ Hawkmon's flight pattern changed to speed up significantly, which forced me to hug his talon tighter. Shit, I was afraid he'd outright collide with the bug. Flymon, unfotunately, didn't have the speed of Hawkmon, but something she made quite a point to mention was her superior maneuverability, so it was probably better that she lagged back anyway to strike more calculably.

As Kuwagamon was just a couple seconds from colliding with us I yelled out, "Here it comes! Gear up!" Hawkmon cawed the way hawks do, and my whole party readied for a tussle. Kuwagamon didn't deviate from its path but flew right at us as predicted. What wasn't predicted was that the beetle digimon would fly right between the two ariel digimon and past them like he didn't even see us, but that was exactly what he did. "...or, not. You know, gear up if you feel like it. If not, no big deal. It's all good either way."

Thomas just scoffed and announced, "False alarm crew! Bugboy won't be bothering us, it seems. Probably just passing by like we are."

"Yeah, but what the hell?" I asked. Now that the fight mentality was passing, all the questions I wanted to ask before could be since I was clear in thought. "Last time I saw that guy he spared no effort in killing me. Now he flies right by? I'd be offended if I wasn't so relieved, but where did his homicidal tendencies go?"

"You said you defeated him before, didn't you?" Thomas queried.

"If 'defeated' is a synonym for 'sat by and watched and cowered while I hid behind the digimon that did all the work,' then yeah, I defeated the living shit out of him." Silence. "Oh, come on! That was funny! Laugh!"

" _I promise to laugh as soon as you say something funny,"_ Aman needlessly interjected.

Thomas went on, "Nobody ever explained digimon 'death' to you, did they? You know what a digiegg is?"

"Not exactly. I know that the digiegg of courage is usually needed for something called armor digivolution because I _kinda_ accidentally triggered it with Veemon once."

"Not the same thing," Thomas clarified, "They're just kinda called digieggs because they look like them. But the real things are exactly what the sound like, the eggs digimon hatch from. There's a place in the digital world where they're all kept and safeguarded, the Nursery. The difference between a human and digimon is that since they're made of data, they can't die unless their data is either permanently deleted or corrupted beyond repair." I saw him eye my rifle there. "Like with one of those things."

"Okay, that's great. So what happens after one 'dies?' Its data wasn't deleted or corrupted, I guess."

"Not in Kuwagamon's case. So the digital world noticed the sudden disappearance of a date piece that was supposed to be there, but it had a backup saved, so it kind of restored the last known saved file of Kuwagamon, the egg. Eventually the egg hatched as a baby digimon, and the circle of life continued from there."

"So... it's not like when a mommy digimon and a daddy digimon love each other very much-"

"No."

" _Could your compulsive wisecracking be linked to an obsessive desire to be accepted by your peers for fear of rejection, or is it some sort of dark sadness and depression for which you feel you have to compensate?"_ Aman asked over the digivice.

"...You know what? Shut up."

Back to silent searching. Man, was it boring! I was even glad to hear that the other guys were making progress just because it gave us something to talk about. Leone announced, "We just talked to some of the Gotsumon. They think Veemon may have travelled to north to fight the Frigimon that has apparently been making trouble like Meramon was."

I sighed in exasperation. "Are you shitting me right now? What, does this guy just look for digimon to fight? That's the only way I can imagine him being around both Meramon and this Frigimon!"

" _I would not know. You knew him better than any of us, after all_."

"I knew him for like three days," I reminded Leone, "And a couple of those were digital world days, so I don't know if they count. So, what happens now? We head to the far north?"

 _"If you're friend is as reckless as the Gotsumon implied, it sounds like a sensible place to try."_

"Reckless? Sounds like a natural Royal Knight to me. Riding into battle to protect the innocent and all that good knight stuff."

" _Well dying in a lost battle is not quite so noble."_

 _"Leone's got a point,"_ Josh chimed in, " _If Veemon's going around picking fights, it's only a matter of time until he loses if he hasn't already. Especially if you haven't been around to make him digivolve. Maybe we shouldn't all go north."_

Thomas asked, "You think we'd be better off visiting the Nursery?" My heart sank hearing that. Oh, man, I never even considered that he may have been killed. But if he was, at least he'd be right back...

"Let's do it," I decided, "It maximizes our chances of finding him. That's the most important thing right now."

" _How are we supposed to get in there?_ " Aman wondered aloud, " _It's the Nursery, where Digimon are reborn. That's like sacred ground. You think they'd just let anyone poke around?_ "

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," I insisted, "I'm getting tired of wandering around, so let's maximize our chances and minimize our time."

" _You eager to see your friend again?"_ Josh called me out. It gave me some pause, too. " _You know if he's at the nursery, he won't remember-"_

"Don't remind me," I cut him off. I didn't want to hear it spoken aloud. "We're doing it. Head north, guys. Thomas, Aman? Where's the Nursery?"


	11. I see dead people

**In loving memory of Sean the golden Luxray. Thank you for teaching me what love is. I guess no good deed goes unpunished.**

* * *

My younger sister once bought a videogame version of Toy Story 3. I shamefully admit to having played it much more often than she did. Remember that character Lotso? It was short for something I don't remember, but that doesn't matter. The game had this "Toybox" mode, and one part of it was called Lotso's Enchanted Forest or something (he wasn't a total asshole in Toybox). I think the Nursery looked pretty much exactly like that scene, complete with the waterfalls and rainbows.

Except Lotso's forest didn't have eggs scattered all over the ground in little cradles that, despite there having been no wind, were rocking. Some soothing mood music from the harpsichord would have really tied the whole thing together. The egg field stretched on for miles, way beyond my view, and they were in so many crazy patterns and designs that they reminded me of Easter eggs.

I tried to pick one up curiously, but before I could even touch it Byomon - Hawkmon devolved: slapped my hand with his wing. Ow. "Are you crazy? Don't just go around touching every egg you see! This is supposed to be a sacred place. Even the most evil Digimon wouldn't pick a fight here! Imagine what someone would think if they saw you messing around?"

"Yeesh, a simple 'don't do that' would have sufficed," I whined, "You didn't have to make me feel all bad about it. But, hey, if we don't go looking around, how are we supposed to know which egg is Veemon's?"

"If he's even here," Aman added onto that question.

"Easy," Byomon explained, "Do you see those patterns on the eggs?" I wanted to exclaim how would we not, but I let Byomon continue. "Just find one that looks like Veemon. Blue, white, maybe a little gold trim, maybe that V symbol."

"Well, fan out!" Thomas issued the order, and most everybody did.

"What? No!" I objected, "We're all splitting up? How are we supposed to deal with a potential threat?"

"It's the Nursery," Byomon reminded me. "No Digimon will give you trouble here." And then he wandered off, leaving me all alone. You know, with all the unborn Digimon babies.

I didn't care how peaceful and innocent the environment seemed. When I'd been left alone in the digital world, things seemed to go wrong historically. Sure, I met Veemon the first time, but I also got attacked by Meramon. Then even when I was with Veemon, Kuwagamon came for a visit. Yeah, I didn't have my fancy-schmancy gun back then, but it sure didn't work well against Monochromon. My guess was it was only effective on Rookie Digimon or lower level.

Not that I could ever recognize a Digimon's level just by looking at it, of course. And I didn't have any digivice to tell me, either. Nevertheless, the very few Digimon I ran across on my aimless search were obviously not Champions. Freshly hatched, I assumed. All of a sudden I was much more reluctant to touch the cradles' contents. Human babies disgusted me, and Digimon babies, the way they were just like little blobs, disgusted me at least as much.

I briefly wondered who was supposed to care for all those babies, but it sure as hell wouldn't be me.

Remember that comparison to Lotso I made earlier? I had no idea how scary accurate that was when I first thought it up, but when a giant teddy bear Pokemon made the ground vibrate as it walked by - thankfully without noticing me - I'll admit I freaked out a bit. Shit, right about then I really didn't want to be alone anymore.

Boy, how ironic was that? Me not wanting to be alone? Save band practices, I couldn't remember the last time I wasn't alone - or the last time I didn't enjoy it. Before this whole Digimon mess, at least.

"Veemon!" I called out stupidly. Yeah, right, like I'd get a call back from an _egg_. Besides, if I heard some stranger Digimon calling my name I would never call back. Sure, Veemon and I weren't strangers to each other, but if he was in the Nursery, as was explained to me on the trip there, he wouldn't remember me.

Yowch, that stings.

All I got in response was an echo of Veemon's name from my voice. Well... At least it beat checking every egg individually. So I started wandering about aimlessly and calling out Veemon's name at regular intervals. Oh, yeah, that was _way_ more efficient. _Way_ more fun, too. And only getting my own voice in reply for hours on end wasn't frustrating at _all_.

I once thought I indeed heard another voice call back at the same time I called out, but when I went quiet to listen, the environment went quiet, too. "Veemon?" I called back out into the air, this time more questioning. Still nothing. I guessed it was just my frustration and need to succeed playing a trick on my mind. "Gyaaaah!" I growled to myself at that as I stomped my foot hard into the ground.

Boy, that was stupid. The ground wasn't about to move, so all I really accomplished was sending a wave of pain up the length of my calf. Soon as I felt it I let the leg go limp to avoid even more and grimaced. I wasn't stupid enough to break my leg, but standing on it after didn't feel so fun. Oh, well, it wasn't like I could just abort the mission now.

Still, let's assess my situation: I was out all alone on a fool's errand in a strange dimension on the run from the government in a desperate attempt to save the same world that drove me out from total destruction when I'm the one human in this world without the ability to defend myself. I guess I had the fancy stun gun, but I felt no safer with it

Oh, and I lost a guitar here. Now _that_ made it a truly shitty scenario.

I scoffed at my own downtroddenmnss."You'd think I'd be happy to not find Veemon where the dead Digimon go," I muttered aloud to myself, which admittedly was a little comforting but didn't really improve my status.

"Dylan!" Okay, I definitely heard it that time. Either I was going nuts or someone was calling out for me. So I tried going in the direction of the sound.

"Veemon? Is that you?"

"Dylan!" whatever that was it was getting closer, so I broke into a run. Hurting leg be damned, that voice was doubtlessly Veemon's, and I wanted to catch up with him quick! I was led by the calling voice to some sort of pond. Despite the deafening waterfall pouring into it (which created a rainbow because that just fit well with the atmosphere), there wasn't one wave on the pond's surface. I guess the laws of physics are only for us pathetic humans in our human world.

Though the waterfall rumbled on, Veemon's call was clear as day. The problem was I could no longer determine its direction. It seemed to be coming from only a few more yards away, but I was facing the waterfall when I tried to look towards the plea's source. Was Veemon on top? No, I didn't think the call was coming from above. It wasn't below was it?

Well, I could see the pond's sediment bottom, and Veemon was thankfully not trapped beneath the surface and struggling to breathe, which meant I wouldn't be down there struggling to breathe either. But that could only mean... "Tell me the digital world didn't steal from every video game ever made," I grumbled to myself before reluctantly jumping into the water, reluctantly because while I'm a plenty good swimmer (I actually have somewhat webbed toes. Yes, it is weird.) I hate water that isn't calm and as warm as I like my shower. At least it was calm, I guess.

So I swam to just before the waterfall and placed my hand under the stream. Oddly enough I didn't even feel a mist in the air, let alone a deluge into my hand. There was the water falling, I could see it, but I couldn't feel it. An illusion? "...this whole world is on acid," I decided just before swimming through the intangible waterfall stream into some sort of cavern behind it. Damn, the digital world really did steal from video game cliches.

Once I climbed up out of the water and got my feet under me, I heard a low rumbling before I fully registered the vibration beneath my feet. "Oh, shit..." I thought I was about to be crushed beneath a cave-in and turned tail to flee. However, I didn't have time to take a single step before a rockslide blocked my way (and my view of the corny rainbow). Well, that sucked.

But my name was called out again then from further in, which was actually really uplifting. It meant being trapped in there wasn't a complete waste of time. I took off in another run despite already having been pretty out of breath and, now, being able to see very little. There was some kind of little shining light in the distance, though, a literal light at the end of the tunnel. My footsteps were heavy and made sloshing sounds as my shoes were wet, which made the run very uncomfortable.

That, and I wasn't an in-shape guy, so I slowed to a walk when I thought I was nearly outside. The bright golden light, however, turned out not to be from the sun but from some shiny floating orb. Boy, what a letdown. Still, it was curious. Glowing floating orbs are curious objects, I think, but that's just my crazy opinion. So, I reached out to touch it.

I guess Veemon didn't think that was a good idea, because he shouted at me "Don't touch that!" which made me flinch and yank my hand back reflexively. He had to be close if he saw me, but his voice echoed all over the cave walls, which made finding the source difficult. But all I had to do was turn directly around, and there he was... the man of the hour. Digimon of the hour. Whatever.

"Veemon!" I grinned ear-to-ear at the sight of him. I guess I got caved in at a bad time for him, because he was wearing an expression I thought I'd never see, let alone expected to see now: a glare. He actually looked pissed off at me! Yeesh, what'd I do?

"What makes you think you deserve that? Do you have any idea what is?" Veemon was pointing aggressively at the orb, which must have meant that's what he was talking about. Unless he was talking about the cave wall, which would have been very confusing, so I went with the orb.

"Uh... I assume the correct answer to the first question is 'no,' and I can honestly say I have no idea what that is. You wanna explain that?"

"You need it," someone who wasn't Veemon informed me. I had to turn about 180 degrees once more to find Renamon. How did she get in here? I guessed there was another entrance to the waterfall tunnel - which implied an exit as well. "But you need to earn the right to that. It can't just be taken by any passerby."

"Uh..." Can you blame me for having been completely dumbstruck? What was this, Be As Vague As Possible Day? "I have _no_ idea what you two are talking about. Do you wanna consider starting over from the beginning?"

"What does it matter?" A new figure appeared on the scene, then, and once again I couldn't have seen the person enter. But this time I _really_ wanted to know, because the person was Jessica. Remember Jessica? She was one of the former bandmates that moved to kick me out. Yeah, good times. "You'll never be able to touch it even if you try. You can't even play an arpeggio off the top of your head, and you think you're worthy of that kind of power?"

Now I was intrigued. "Did you just say 'power?' Forget that, how are you even here? And who are you to decide who's worthy of the 'power?'" Just to shut these judgemental people up I reached out to touch the orb. I figured explanations could come in later. I didn't get the chance to lay my hand on it, though; Brad's hand grabbed my wrist and squeezed it uncomfortably hard, stopping my arm in its tracks.

"Don't. Even. Think about it," Bradley growled at me. Now I was getting frustrated. Things were happening that I didn't understand, and I was getting emotional because of it. That's an explanation, mind you, and not an excuse. When I reached forward with the other hand, Bradley took my other wrist and started bending them the wrong way, which made me yell in pain and brought me to my knees. "What are you even doing in this world? You can't take down one guy. Forget about lasting in a fight against Digimon."

Jessica chimed in then, "You want to save the world when you can't even save yourself?"

" _Yes_!" I declared defiantly. Tears were forming in my eyes as they returned to Brad. "You're certainly doing a shitty job of it, or I wouldn't even be _in_ this mess! Who are you to be so self-righteous? Do you think after all the bullshit you put me through that you get to just put me through some more?" I sniffed and snarled. "I trusted you! I trusted you to have my back against middle school bullies, and you became the worst one! I trusted you to watch my house, and you robbed me as soon as my back was turned!" I don't think Bradley liked that because he bent my wrists farther. They didn't break, but that threshold was approaching. I trusted you to repent and to go back to being my friend, and I practically never saw you again when you live four _fucking_ houses down! I trusted you to clean up your act, and you could _never_ stop lying to me! How can I trust you now?" By the end I was shouting an octave above my normal voice and probably ruining my vocal chords while I was crying Bradley a river. I couldn't believe that things could get still worse.

"What about us trusting you?" One more new player to the game showed up to inquire. When I saw him... my heart sank. No, it didn't, but I wish it did. My heart doubled in size and started pounding on my ribs in a desperate endeavor to escape that prison. Ribs must be sharper than I thought they were, because at some point I felt it get sliced right down the middle. From this sensation, the terms "heartbreak" and "broken heart" were coined. The pain wasn't just psychological; I truly felt a stinging and burning and ripping apart sort of sensation happening to my heart like Satan had taken hold of it and was digging his claws through it slowly and deliberately to savor my suffering.

Bradley pushed me backwards and released me, but he didn't really have to push me to make me fall; I would have anyway. I also didn't need his kick as encouragement to ball up in the fetal position, as I was a step ahead. Don't worry, though. It didn't hurt. A person can only feel so much pain, and I was all full up. My hands groped my face as I uttered the name with a stammer, "A-A-A-A-Alex..."

My first ex boyfriend didn't scold me like the others. He was more sad and remorseful. "You told me coming out would make my life better, but you were wrong," he painfully reminded me. Oh, man, why was this happening to me? _How_ was this happening to me? There was absolutely no conceivable reason Alex of all people should have been there.

"Alex, p-p-please..." I begged. I should have been happy to hear his voice again, but I couldn't bear to hear what he had to say. Speech didn't come easily because breath was hard to take, and when I finally managed to inhale air I spent most of it exhaling in a miserable wail. "I didn't know! I c-couldn't know!"

"I know you didn't. But that doesn't change what happened, did it?"

"Quit groveling, man!" Brad jumped in, pulling me back up by the arms to a standing position to my reluctance. "It's embarrassing." Even standing up straight, Alex still towered over me by at least five inches. Well, I always liked tall guys. Now I was forced to face him head on.

I resumed my pathetic whining, "I just wanted you to be h-happy... happier than you were at the time." I sniffed and made a move to hug him. "I'm sorry!" I cried as my arms wrapped around him... Wait, no they didn't! He was just like the waterfall: my arms went right through him like he wasn't there. I guess him not having been there would have made more sense, though. Still, when I couldn't touch him... that hurt. I just wanted to die. At least then I would be able to see him again for real. "I never even got to touch you..."

Alex was a long-distance relationship. Video chat was the most intimate quality time we ever got to have together, but that was rare because of his mother. I knew she was homophobic, even an extremist, but I had no idea to what lengths she would go to quash her son's deviancy. As soon as she found out about me she cut him off from the outside world. No phone, no computer, nothing that could send a correspondence. The next time I got a message from him, it was just his mother informing me - with a smile emoticon - about his death.

"Alex... Who killed you? Did you do it to yourself, or...?" Silence. I guessed I would never know the truth about who killed Alex, but I did know, or at least felt and believed, that I handed that person the blade. "Alex, please answer me," I managed to beg despite my caught voice. He didn't.

As far as I knew, there was only one way to shut all these phantasms up. I guess there were two ways if you count finding a nice, sharp rock and slitting my own throat, but I'm kind of glad I let that be Plan B. Plan A was lunging for that floating orb. I jumped and dived for it, but phantom-Renamon took hold of my legs and broke my forward momentum, bringing me down onto my stomach. However, she didn't expect me to kick her in the gut before I hit the ground, forcing her to release me.

Charged with emotion, I was like a wild, rabid animal. I would not be tied down. Phantom-Jessica moved in to restrain me next but I pushed her away before she could get a good hold, and I watched her dissolve into some kind of vapor as she hit the cave wall. Looking behind me, I couldn't find phantom-Renamon anymore either. Oh, well, good riddance. Just as I was about to be running steadily and completely off the ground, Phantom-Veemon jumped on my back and tried to wrestle me down. It pained me to do it a little even in my rabid state, but to deal with him I intentionally fell backwards as hard as I can. He was pained by colliding with the ground, but his exclamation of that pain was very short before he became vapor.

I almost thought I was in the clear when I was close enough for my arm to be outstretched, but less than an inch away from the orb Phantom-Bradley got a hold of my upper arms from behind and kept them from extending even though my lower arms were free. So close, yet so far. I glared and snarled and thrashed and flailed, but it all seemed to be in vain until one arm got free. Yes! Not wasting the chance, the arm reached out, snatched the orb, and brought it close to my chest like a baby it had just rescued.

God, I was so stressed and angry and every other bad feeling in the book that I barely remember the whole thing from Alex's appearance onward, but I think I shut my eyes after retrieving the orb, or at least blinked, because everything had disappeared the next thing I knew. The cave, the waterfall, the pond, all of the phantasms, and even the orb was gone. I was left kneeling in the nursery hugging something so close I'm shocked it didn't break.

It looked to be over. I was surrounded by that Lotso-like peaceful scenery and atmosphere again, although that didn't mean I wasn't still in turmoil inside. You don't see your murdered first love again without sustaining some major psychological damage, perhaps permanent. Still, I was slowly coming down as minutes passed from that rabid emotional state. I couldn't do it all at once, but at least I did it. I was shocked that I managed it at all, though, and didn't go insane. I'll take it.

Maybe it helped that I had something to squeeze and pour all my stress into. Wait, what was that? I almost forgot about it! Looking down, it seemed I had inadvertently picked up an egg. Whoops. Wow, digieggs must be made of tougher stuff than ours if it survived as, essentially, a stress ball. I didn't remember picking the egg up, but I supposed I had better put it back down, so I made to do so.

However, I took note of the design on the shell as I did so. That main shade of light blue was awfully familiar, but I only got confirmation when I turned the egg around and caught that signature marking reminiscent of a golden letter V. Holy crap! I had found it!

"Damn, Dylan, are you okay?" Birdramon had landed just behind me, and Thomas was sprinting for me but just slowing down seeing that I wasn't in any apparent danger.

The honest answer was no, but I wasn't just going to pour my heart out to a stranger. My nose was still congested from crying so much, so I had to breathe through my mouth and resist the urge not to sniff in order to not give that away. I didn't breathe too deeply, else that would have set off irregular breathing and given it away anyway. "Yeah, I'm good. Why?"

Thomas shouted, "'Cause it sounded like you were being tortured or some shit!" Well, he wasn't wrong. But I wasn't going to tell him that.

"No, no torture. I did trip over this thing-" I held out the egg. "-and it hurt like hell, but I think I found what we're looking for." I declared that last part proudly, and some of the pride I expressed in that declaration was true. Hey, I went through hell to get that egg. "So, how do we make it hatch?"

Thomas went quiet when I asked that. It took neither a great intellect nor his confirmation to figure out that, "Uh... I dunno."

But that was okay. I'd hate to think I went through that whole ordeal for nothing, so I tried to look back at that for clues. The phantoms referred to that orb as a power of some sort, a power I inferrably obtained when I touched it, although what it could be the power to do was a bit of a mystery. What I did know was that I was only able to touch it when I dug deep into my heart and felt my innermost buried feelings, which got me to think... was that the whole point all along?

Well, I had to try. Going back to that state wasn't so hard when it was still fresh in my mind, but as I "searched my feelings" (the Star Wars term sounds like the only one that can describe the action) I ran across something else, some sort of... warmth? I dunno, but it felt good, so I figured maybe that was the power. But how would I direct it to do what I want? Did it even have that capability?

I'd find out. The best way I can describe what happened next was that I used a bit of mental muscle to "push" the entity in the direction I wanted it to go. It didn't seem to like that and even "pushed" back at me. I demanded for Veemon to hatch, though, and channelled all the willpower I had into making that happen. It seems crazy, but I think that was the key, because the egg began to glow then.

"...whoa," Thomas and I remarked at exactly the same time. That's when I put the egg down, and I'm glad I did. It didn't hatch. It exploded like a grenade, only without the harmful heat and shock waves. The eggshell fractured and flew out like shrapnel, but luckily most of it went upward rather than outward. That's lucky because, again, digieggs were apparently made of tough stuff, and I didn't trust it not to pierce skin if not bone.

Where the egg had been placed down instead stood... not Veemon. Not even something that looked like Veemon. I guessed baby Digimon looked different from their rookie forms. But that's when something unexpected happened: it instantly digivolved. When it did it became something still a lot smaller than the Veemon I knew but matching the body design and color scheme of my friend.

"Demiveemon," Thomas identified him for me, showing the digivice entry as proof. "Veemon's In Training form. Man, how'd you do that?"

"I'm not sure," I responded, "But I think..." I concentrated hard again on my need for Demiveemon to digivolve one more time and, amazingly to us both... It happened. There was Veemon in all his former glory, essentially raised from the dead.

By me.

How trippy is that?

But I think what happened next wasn't just the most amazing thing to have ever happened to me - and that is _saying_ something - was Veemon's reaction to that whole thing. I didn't hear any, "Where am I?" There was no, "Who are you people?" like everybody expected.

There were only wide, surprised eyes, a big grin, and the exclamation, "Dylan! You came back!"

* * *

 **I told some people I had writer's block on this chapter, but I lied. This was just a really hard chapter to write, and it took some willpower and psychological breakthroughs to make it happen.**

 **Don't forget if you like this story, you should show your interest in it by reviewing in the box** _ **just**_ **below this text. Since your mind is already on reviewing now that I said it, it would be a waste of your time not to review. :)**


	12. Josh issues a large bounty for my head

With the mission finished, Leone, Thomas, and Aman left us to do Leone, Thomas, and Aman stuff, though they all wanted a copy of an album from the new band Josh offered me before the FBI came calling. Me, I just hoped that finding a new band would eventually become a problem.

So, Josh, Jimena, Bradley, Veemon, Shoutmon, Armadillomon, Gabumon, and I were all crowded around a campfire and finally taking a breather, the fire being our only light source since it was the digital world's night time. Things weren't really okay, but for once I thought it felt like things were okay.

My time with Veemon was spent catching him up on our circumstances, but not our plan for the immediate future. I didn't like it when responsibility like that was foisted on me with no prior prep, and I didn't want to do that to Veemon. Not immediately, anyway. I also didn't tell the others how I found Veemon. I didn't even tell Veemon how I found Veemon. That was for me and nobody else to know.

"I don't want to talk about our next move right now," I declared as soon as I sat down with the rest, at which point a can of soup was passed my way. I didn't eat it, but I'd probably have to get over my diet issues soon or starve. Soon didn't mean now, though.

"Fine," Shoutmon pretended to agree before challenging me, "What do _you_ want to talk about?"

I didn't answer immediately because I didn't know how. I didn't answer later either, because I still didn't know how. After an awkwardly long period of silence I simply announced, "I'm going to bed. Anybody got a spare tent this time?"

Brad and Josh exchanged looks. Oh, that figured, they never stocked up after our first misadventure. Luckily Jimena was prudent, and when Armadillomon translated my question for her she produced what I needed. Geez, I wished I had one of those digivices again right then if only so I could quit relying on others to have what I need. Plus, a change of clothes. I was starting to smell. Shit, I wanted a shower and a razor right about then, too. But what was whining out loud gonna do? So I just whined in my head.

"Gracias. Don't forget to douse the fire, okay?" Was the curt response to the tent that I gave aloud.

That was my first time sleeping _inside_ of something for a few days, and damn it felt good. The tent wasn't exactly glorious, just built for two (which for tents means "built for one" unless you're a little person), but the warmth, shelter from the elements, and _privacy_ were all very welcome after a good while without creature comforts.

If I ever commit another federal crime, I think I'll just turn myself in. Living on the lamb wasn't as fun or cool as you'd think.

Since I finally had a little privacy I thought I may as well go the whole hog and sleep the way I preferred to: nothing but boxers. Lucky the tent was opaque, so I couldn't be seen and my modesty could be preserved. Too bad I had no sleeping bag - Jimena wasn't _that_ prepared - but it still felt good. Better than sleeping in the dirt.

I got to enjoy my moment alone for almost four whole seconds before someone from the outside started unzipping the front door. Shit! Luckily, through the art of masturbation, I learned to pull on my pants in about half a second when necessary. Lucky I got those on before Veemon emerged through the hole and zipped it behind us, but my shirt was out of my reach at the time. Oh, well, I just put it on after, and I _highly_ doubted that Veemon even gave a shit, but my cheeks still turned rosy; I was really shy about my body, even electing to wear a swim shirt if I ever had to swim in my old pool. I guess it was my own fault, though; besides getting too comfortable for my present circumstances, it was selfish to not consider that Veemon probably wouldn't want to be the only one sleeping in the dirt.

Besides, it was like Josh said at the giant tree earlier: I may have no Digimon partner, but Veemon was the closest thing to one I had. Maybe now that he was there I should start treating him like one, I thought, especially considering the new plot twist to the Crazy Tale of Dylan Loon, Interplanetary Defender.

Maybe Veemon being there in the tent with me wasn't so bad, though. Sure, it was cramped as shit, but there was definitely something I wanted to talk with Veemon alone about. "So... You remember me?"

Even in the dark I could see that Veemon frowned, at which point I knew I'd never liked his answer. The fact that he sat down beside me rather than answer quickly and casually was also a dead giveaway, as it meant he didn't like the answer either and had to build up a little willpower to say his piece. "A little bit," he led off with, "I know your name. And I feel good when you're around, so I think we're friends." The little blue guy hadn't been looking at me then, but he looked at me to ask, "Are we friends?"

Damn, what a loaded question! Sure, I didn't have to think too hard on the answer, but still. Man. "Yeah, you were right. We're friends," I could answer without hesitation. Too bad that was the easy question.

"I digivolved with you once, didn't I?" Veemon then exclaimed with some excitement.

"Twice, actually," I corrected him reflexively. "Not counting the egg hatching and two digivolutions to get you to your current form." Wow, now that I said it aloud that was a lot. That was even more times than I had seen Gabumon, Byomon, and Larvamon digivolve combined.

"So we must be digidestined partners, then," Veemon concluded, that frown fading a little more with each conclusion he came to, "Right?"

There it was. The _real_ loaded question. How I answered determined more than Veemon's feelings but also indicated my own, assuming I told the truth. If I answeredaffirmatively, it would indicate that I finally embraced my destiny whether I liked it or not. If I answered negatively, it would indicate that I still believed there was an escape from the path I was on. And that's not even taking into account the different tones I could answer with, whether I liked the true answer or not, and how I felt about it more specifically. There were also degrees of belief in my answer. Perhaps I wasn't entirely sure but took one side or the other.

Here is the way I answered, and I think that just about says it all for me. "Well... It definitely looks that way. Still trying to find my feet in that position, though. I just figured out digivolution today, really." I yawned then. "Man, I wasn't really expecting to be tired this early, but I am. If you're gonna stay I'm gonna have to ask you to be quiet, okay? G'night."

* * *

Ha, ha! Oh, boy, it's kind of funny that I ever thought I could sleep peacefully through the night. What naïveté, am I right? Sleep is for psychologically healthy people! Sure, I wasn't deranged or anything, but I had been through a lot lately. I really expected to sleep it off and feel rested and ready for tomorrow? If my longing for such a result wasn't so sad, it would have been hilarious.

When I emerged from my tent, there was still smoke rising from the fire pit, whispers between other tents, and not a sign of the light to return to the world. I think I woke up not long after the rest of my company went to bed, and hour maximum. But now that I was up I didn't even feel tired, so I wondered briefly why I was tired enough to go to bed early in the time before I found Veemon had followed me.

"You can't sleep either?" We asked each other at the exact same time. I smiled and have a little baby chuckle at the exact timing of us asking that of each other, though the pleasant emotion didn't stick around for long.

"There's something weighing on my mind," I... well, I want to say I "admitted" that, but that word might imply that it wasn't completely obvious. I thought that guy was about the only person I could talk to about what was in my head; then other guys were sure to want to focus on the current course of action. I couldn't blame them; it seemed logical enough, and if I was in my right mind I would have agreed with it. But Renamon's riddles were coming back to haunt me in the calm. "Renamon is telling me that at the top of the tree you and I tried to scale lies something that would benefit us. While refusing to elaborate, of course."

"Yeah, I remember," Veemon replied calmly and without judgement. "That you told me," he then added on for clarification.

I took a breath before expressing, "Well... I want to know what it is. And I want to get it. I want to go back there and try again."

Okay, here's something along the lines of what I expected Veemon to say to me: Dylan, I know this bothers you, but we have to focus on saving the world, not chasing riddles. That's what I think he should have said if he was being responsible to the mission. Even I was strongly fearful that Renamon was having me, metaphorically bark up the literal wrong tree. Here's what Veemon actually said to that: "Then let's do it."

I was so surprised that I analyzed his body language and facial expression before answering that to make sure he actually meant it. His knees and upper arms didn't open up away from the body as most people do when they try to be funny or sarcastic. He wasn't smiling, though not frowning either. The pitch of his voice didn't go very far up or down from normal. He meant it.

I was taken aback or a moment, but I replied eventually. "I'm glad you were easy to sway. No way the other guys would go for it."

Veemon shrugged. "Then let's go now!" he suggested like that was easy. Wait... It was easy, wasn't it? We could just skip out while nobody was watching, I supposed, but the others sure wouldn't be happy. Plus they couldn't find me, which means they couldn't rescue me if I needed it. Unless...

I followed the sound of Shoutmon's and Josh's voices to figure out which tent was theirs and then stalked it until someone suggested it was finally time to sleep, and the voices stopped. I'd heard that the average person takes seven minutes to fall asleep, but I was generous with the length of seconds as I counted to 60 in my head seven times. After that it was do or die time, it looked like.

My heart was beating much faster than it should have been, and I tried to breathe as slowly as possible as I unzipped the tent door equally slowly in hope that the sound of both actions would be reduced along with the chances of waking up Josh and Shoutmon. I only got more nervous when the tent was open enough for me to see the pair. They were completely out, thank God, but I had better not change that. With the caution of Indiana Jones trying to seize a precious artifact, I reached between the two and, with the skill of a surgeon, extracted Josh's digivice silently.

I didn't shut the tent back up. I thought that would just be another noise risk. I didn't want to leave with no explanation, though; they'd all probably have assumed that I didn't leave of my own free will. So, I scratched a little message in the dirt with a stick just to let them know I'm absolutely okay, but I didn't say where I was going. I didn't need them stopping me.

Okay, I kind of regretted stealing from the guys and sneaking away as soon as I took the digivice, but I hoped the end would justify the means. After glancing to Veemon for reassurance of my own good intent, I muttered to myself, "Where's the damn map on this thing?"

When I found it - which took an embarrassingly long time - I finally let out a sigh and started breathing again. Something went my way for a nice change of pace. Only one solveable remained. "Alright, let's see if I got this figured out..." I mostly muttered that to myself, but I directed it at Veemon a little, too.

I stared straight at him and tried to dig into that well of power hidden in my mind again. You know how the movies all say power comes from the heart? Yeah, I call bullshit. If I were to place a physical location on it, I'd say I felt it in my head. It took me a minute, but soon as I found the part of my mind that didn't quite seem to belong there, I dug into it and worked on channelling it to execute my will for digivolution.

I know that all sounds pretty badass, but I looked like a total tool doing it, and even Veemon was flashing me an uncomfortable look.

At least I looked stupid for a good reason; it worked. The light of digivolution enveloped Veemon, and he grew to a monster size as he digivolved to Exveemon. Or, so I assume he did. I wasn't really watching. All of a sudden I felt lightheaded and swayed, struggling to stand upright. As I stumbled I almost fell into Josh's tent, but Exveemon bent down and stopped me with a hand. That also served to steady me until my dizziness wore off. "Dylan, what happened?"

I rubbed my forehead a bit and blinked a lot as I answered, "I dunno... I think I'm good now, though. I'm good." I shook my head then. "Maybe that trick just takes some practice." I didn't really believe that, but I did hope it was the case. Either way, I didn't want to get dizzy each time I tried digivolution. Hopefully the champion form would be as high as I had to go... hopefully. "Let's just get moving. Do you mind scrunching down?"

I really don't give a shit that Veemon was my friend and I had already ridden a Digimon thrice in recent history, including him. I was still not happy about having to ride yet again. That's about the only way to reach an upside-down floating island without being teleported there. I spent the first half of my flight clutching my rifle for stress relief and the second half hoping that I'd never become the kind of person who regularly turns to a weapon for personal comfort.

* * *

Exveemon tried to go ahead and fly to the top, but I had to remind him, "No good, bud! Air's too thin to support a creature as big as you! I already tried that with Hawkmon!"" over the air blowing around us, though it was less loud for the reason I had just stated to Veemon. But now that I thought about it, we could still use flight to make our lives a lot easier. "Just fly as high as you can and land on a branch. We'll climb the rest the old fashioned way."

Sometimes I hate being right. My fear of great heights and fear of riding fused to form a new fear of experiencing great heights while riding. Even though another ground was above us, the one below us didn't make me feel any more comfortable. Oh, you might find this funny: I had thought that the islands were upside-down, but I was wrong. When I had to travel _to_ them, I discovered that they're right-side up, and at some point the normal land just turns upside-down. What kind of crack addict designed this place?

I was too glad to land and jumped off Exveemon's back as soon as he crouched down. I had to be careful about my landing, though; whereas on our first attempt at this we had reached only a point so high as the ranches were thick enough to park two cars side-by-side, the branch we landed on was about half that width. Still pretty damn thick, but as we got higher up it was less so. "Alright... Let's do this."

Exveemon was really helpful, as the limbs were still very far apart, but now he could boost lift me to many of them rather than carry me due to his larger size than Flamedramon. That only worked for about an hour, though; after that branches became small enough that they started to bend and threaten to snap under his weight. So, as soon as it was safe, I used my new talent to bring Exveemon back down to Veemon. Apparently that worked in reverse, too. I was more than a little scared that I'd get light-headed again, but I felt absolutely nothing of the sort to my immense relief. That lead me to conclude that it must have been a one-time thing, possibly completely unrelated to the digivolution.

I was going to try Flamedramon, but that's when I heard, " _Dylan, you stupid son of a bitch! What are you thinking going back to that tree?"_ I guess I knew that call would always be coming eventually, but I wasn't thrilled that I had pissed off Josh.

I smiled awkwardly at Veemon and suggested, "I guess it's break time," before extracting Josh's digivice from my back pocket and responding to him, "I'm gonna go ahead and be honest: I didn't think this through very well. I'm kind of at the point of no return, though, so... Hey, how do you know where I am?"

" _We can track the locations of digivices,"_ Brad reminded me, calmer than Josh but probably no happier. " _Dylan, what the hell are you doing?"_

"Brad, guys, it's too late to descend. Your best bet is to accept what happened for the moment and help me succeed. Only _then_ will you get the chance to kick my ass." Someone was beginning to say something back to me, but that's when I found the button to cut off comms. Good timing, too, I didn't want to talk to them right now. I was in the climbing zone.

"Let's proceed with Flamedramon the rest of the way," I suggested to Veemon.

"Good idea," Veemon agreed, so I made it happen. And it almost killed me.

I think I passed out after Flamedramon's digivolution for a couple of seconds. That's the only way I can explain my next sight being Flamedramon hanging on to me tightly by the wrist with a tense concentration expression while most of my body dangled off over the branch. Luckily Flamedramon was a lot stronger than I. With one good heave he got my feet back on the branch, but just for extra security he wrapped his arms around me in a hug to help me get my balance back and keep me from falling until you did.

Or, I thought that was the function at first, anyway. I let that notion go when twenty seconds had passed and yet I hadn't been released. "Hey. I'm good. Okay?" I hugged Flamedramon back for reassurance and as a complement to my words.

I could see him hesitate, but Flamedramon finally bade me, "No more digivolution, okay?" before he would let me go. I guess he had a point. Shit, what was happening to me? It was like every time I attempted digivolution now it would drain me of my energy. I sat down on that branch and didn't even have to ask Veemon to stop and rest, thankfully; he just sat down right with me, no prompt needed.

"Brad? Jimena? Do you guys ever feel really exhausted after your digimon digivolve?" I asked the digivice in both English and Spanish.

Jimena came back with, " _No. Por qué?_ "

Brad gave me, " _No, never. Is that happening to you?"_

"Yeah, it is. Do me a favor and send some water up here, will you?" I know I heard Josh grumble in the background, but I still got a couple of water bottles and tossed one to Flamedramon. "Thanks a lot." I screwed the cap off my bottle and chugged it like it was my job. I didn't even have to come up for air before the bottle was empty, at which point I stored it once more with the digivice. "Maybe this is kind of a good thing. You're supposed to stop and acclimate to the air pressure and altitude during a climb, right?" I reasoned aloud, "I'm still hungry as heck, but that can't be helped. I might just try something new if this crazy scheme works, though. Are you good to keep on?"

"Are you?" was Flamedramon's concerned retort. I didn't answer because I really didn't know. "Just be safe, okay?" I didn't like the way he looked at me. It was like I was his child that he had to care for. I wasn't offended by the pity but was a little embarrassed by the fact that his concern was valid.

"You sure care a lot about some guy you hardly remember," I observed in order to dodge the question as I stood back up.

"I remember you try to be a good person," Flamedramon reminded me, "And even if I didn't, we're still partners." Man, even when Veemon was bulked up to Flamedramon his childlike innocence and charisma would shine through brightly. Stick that together her with his words themselves and, well, let's see _you_ resist smiling softly when he speaks that way to you. I certainly failed.

In fact, I even finally acknowledged, "Yeah, you're right. We're partners." I looked up and saw we had a long way to go. I love you looked down and saw that by comparison the way up from here would be nothing. "Let's get moving quick. I'm sure Josh will make my death more and more painful the longer it takes for me to return his digivice."

So, we continued. Progress was slow because you the thinner air wasn't kind to either of us at first. If we hadn't stopped we probably would have gotten altitude sickness, so I was sure glad for that. What I _wasn't_ glad for was that for a good while more I still needed a piggy-back ride with Flamedramon to advance upward until the branches were _finally_ close enough consistently that I could climb on my own.

That was just below the peak of the tree, though I didn't know it. When I looked up all I could see was a very intricate pattern of woven branches and leaves that resembled a deliberately woven basket. I wasn't sure how we'd penetrate that, and I couldn't find any holes in it. The fact that it blocked light should have meant any hole would be illuminated by a beam breaking through, but none were large enough. Flamedramon, though, had an easy solution.

He yelled, "Fire Rocket!" before his whole body ignited in roaring flames. I might have freaked out about that if I didn't know about digimon attacks and, therefore, couldn't assume that this was one. But I did. Nonetheless the intense heat made me uncomfortable, so I backed nice and far away. Flamedramon sprang up then and crashed right through the barrier, burning anything in his way to nothing. I don't know why the fire didn't catch and burn the whole damn tree down, and I didn't think to ask either.

Apparently the barrier was thin, thin enough for Flamedramon to extend an arm from a prone position above and grab my hand. I had to jump in order to reach him, though, and it took four of my best springs for the last to be just barely enough. We didn't grab hands so much as fingers, but we were both quick enough to grab each other's wrist with our free hands before the connection was severed. Only then did Flamedramon pull me up.

That branch barrier apparently formed some kind of platform or mesa which was convenient to stand on, but more Importantly I finally got to see unobstructed sky. Actually I saw unobstructed ground, but the feeling was the same. No branches or leaves hung above me anymore. You know what that means, right? "Unbelievable..." I then told those at the other end of the digivice, "Hey guys... lo hicimos. We did it," before pocketing it and not even bothering to listen to the response, though I heard that there was one. After taking everything in, I expressed to Flamedramon, "Only now that we did it and received nothing for our efforts do I now understand what a stupid idea this was."

"I disagree," Renamon calmly retorted. Yep, seriously. She was leaning casually against what remained of the tree's trunk. "The only problem here is that I got here first." I didn't like the way she smirked as she opened a clenched fist slightly and dangled something from it. Best I could tell it was a necklace of some sort.

"What's that, then?" I asked her, pointing to he object.

Renamon's signature smirk red urged then. "Your reward for making it this far," she taunted before adding, "...on one condition."

* * *

 **Typical Renamon. She just has to complicate _everything,_ doesn't she? Still, will Dylan finally get some answers out of her? Better stick around to find out.**


	13. I have to take a test I didn't study for

"This tree is known as the Tree of Unity," Renamon started to exposition. For once in her life she was behaving seriously and giving straight answers without even being asked, and I wasn't about to interrupt her. "It's called so because it's the one bridge between this world and another." I looked up (or down?) at the ground above (below?) me in wonder. Surely it wasn't connected to- "Oh, no, not your world. Simply another. There are too many different worlds to count, but this tree is the only bridge to the one you see before you."

She continued on, "And such is the case for most worlds. One bridge and one bridge only connects each to each other if its barriers are functioning properly." As she said that she opened her arms to gesture at everything at once. "But as you can see, the digital world's Firewall is not. By now it's so unstable that I can travel between worlds at my own leisure... Provided I can find the right hole in the right place in both barriers, the world I leave and that I enter."

Oh, man, that struck a chord. "The digidestined have that power now, too, with the creation of the digivice. But how could you possibly travel worlds if one world's barrier is still up and stable, hmmm? Have you ever thought of that?"

Oh, fuck. That would mean... "It seems like you can't," I grimly responded to Renamon.

"Exactly," she affirmed, "I don't think you'll ever doubt your cause again if you came all the way here just because that cause drew you here, but if you do, now you know. You aren't simply performing charity work; your world is in as much danger as mine."

I interrupted, "I kinda got that when Monochromon got loose in the desert. Something tells me I don't want those wandering around my hometown."

Renamon shook her head. "It's not just digimon either. If your world's barrier falls, any number of creatures big and small, good and evil, may infiltrate you." Renamon paused and... Frowned? "It wasn't supposed to be like this. _She_ thought the two worlds were ready for convergence. The digidestined alone are indisputable proof that humans and digimon can more than coexist peacefully but even make each other better."

"Whoa, whoa, back the fuck up right there," I brashly interrupted once again. "Who is 'she?' Is 'she' the one destabilizing the Firewall?"

"Yes and no." Oh, that figures. Of _course_ I couldn't get all necessary information in one session. "Some knowledge is knowledge you are not yet ready for. Other knowledge is knowledge I am simply not permitted to teach."

"Permitted?" That word echoed in my head. "That makes it sound like someone else is pulling your puppet strings. Shit, I don't like the idea of being a puppet's puppet."

"Then don't be," Renamon coolly retorted, "I've shown you your path and convinced you it was best, but you stay on it now by consequence of your own choice. Now that you have found your way, this is knowledge she feels you must have, and I trust her judgement."

"Oh, bullshit. You don't get to play the pronoun game and refuse to identify the person. I'll climb down before I have to listen to _that_ prattle any more." I even made for the hole and looked down it as a bluff, but Renamon called that bluff by watching silently. When I finally turned around and gave up, she was clearly quite amused. It looked like even Flamedramon didn't think I'd do it because he didn't follow me either. Geez, am I _that_ transparent?

"I brought you here as more than a test, however," Renamon continued after she was satisfied that I was sufficiently humiliated. "The Tree of Unity's name has a dual meaning. It's also where she decided to hide this." Once again, Renamon brandished the necklace. It seemed odd to me that a gold tag would be suspended from such an ordinary looking string, so it must not have been hidden for its value.

I think even Flamedramon was getting frustrated, because he was about to shout at Renamon, "Then what _is-?"_ but he stopped midsentence. He kind of had to because his jaw dropped like a sack of bricks. There was definitely recognition in his eyes, too. His question's meaning still got across though.

All the same, Renamon opted not to answer it. She just snickered, although she did do us the courtesy of tossing the necklace to me, which I plucked right out of the air. Apparently it wasn't just a plain golden tag; that was just the back. When I turned it over there was some glyph engraved in it. I sure couldn't read it, but I thought it was oddly familiar. "Isn't this the symbol Brad wears around his neck?" I asked Renamon. That's when recognition entered my eyes. "Wait, is _this_ that thing Gabumon told me about? The crest of friendship?"

I asked Renamon that, but it was Flamedramon who replied, "Yeah... That has to be it," while inspecting it closely, eyes wide in wonder.

"I suggest you give that to your friend. What you're holding is more than a piece of jewelry. That crest has the ability to make Gabumon evolve to an even higher form."

"Higher than Champion?" I remarked with wonder. "I hope we never need something _that_ powerful..."

"Better to have it when not needed than not when so," Renamon wisely counseled, "But a crest can't just be given away. Were you to leave now and I to hand it over, it would be useless to you. Its prospective owner must prove itself to its current owner. Being the crest of friendship, naturally, I must see an act of friendship." It didn't escape me that Renamon looked between both me and Flamedramon, but she wouldn't elaborate further.

"...what, you wanna see us hug or something?" I quipped.

"I was thinking more along the lines of cooperation," she finally clarified. "I see you've mastered willful digivolution. Congratulations, truly. Through this you two worked together well enough to make it here, showing you can accomplish an otherwise impossible task together. Make no mistake: neither of you could have made it here without the other. Flamedramon couldn't digivolve from Veemon, and you... Well, need I say more?"

Well, that was a little insulting, but I couldn't doubt its truth. "So... Now that we proved ourselves to you, you want Brad to prove himself to me somehow?"

"Not quite." Of course. Renamon shrugged and uttered with false sheepishness that gave the impression of arrogance, "I'm still not convinced. So you climbed a tree? Impressive." With her classic swiftness she managed to run forward, punch me in the gut, steal back the necklace, and jump back out of striking range before I even knew that it was Renamon who hit me. Flamedramon tried to strike her with his claws when she was close, but she was too quick and had jumped back by then. I was doubled over and beating on my own chest to try and get breath to flow through my lungs again. "But can you fight for your life? Up until now digimon have pulled both their weight and yours in combat, a practice that will see you both killed soon. One more little test, and the crest is yours to do with we you wish."

The fact that I could cough thankfully meant breath was returning. I got to cough out, " _Another_ test? Why can't you just work with us instead of against us?" because of that fact as Flamedramon helped me to my feet and stared daggers at Renamon.

"Because I want to know if I'm wasting my time and my world is doomed. And it is if you can't even take this crest from me." She brandished it again, only she was now taunting me to take it from her. "There's no need for bloodshed. You don't have to kill me, and I won't kill you. Just take this from me. It's that simple."

"Would it be against the rules if I did kill you?" I asked sarcastically out of frustration.

"No. And you should probably intend just that if you have any hope of even catching me."

"Then this will be easy." I raised my trusty lightning rifle and took aim at Renamon down the scope sight. If she actually moved I'd probably miss, assuming I even fired, and I knew it, but I was banking on her not knowing that. I knew she could dodge gunshots in combat if need be because I saw it, but she also knew I was good with the weapon because she saw it. "Throw the crest over here, and I promise not to blast you into oblivion. Scout's honor."

I wanted her to throw it because I didn't trust her to get any closer than she was right then. That didn't stop her, though. She casually walked up to me until she was close enough for her chest to touch the end of my barrel in a very daring fashion. Once again, she called my bluff. But maybe things weren't all bad.

She did get closer, close enough to strike her myself and, even better, close enough to simply snatch the crest right from her. So I did... To own huge surprise. I was actually quick enough to swipe the necklace right from her paws! How did I just do that? "Well, I guess that settles it," I gloated. "Thanks for playing. It was fun."

 _Smack!_ Ow! At least Renamon backhanded me rather than using her paw's front side and essentially swiping her class at me. But still, ow.

"Weren't you listening to a word I said?" she growled at me in frustration. I guess my answer didn't really matter, because she went on to assume that I was not. "Even if I let you keep that - which I won't -" She then swiped the crest back even more quickly than I had. "- it doesn't mean a thing if I'm not convinced you earned it."

"And how did you earn it, then?" I pressed on. "I think the only thing I've met that was less friendly than you was my 6th grade science teacher's snapping turtle."

Renamon tied the crest around her neck before she totally brushed off my question. "I'm not at liberty to disclose that right now."

I wanted to slug this bitch so bad then. I'm usually good about keeping my stronger emotions invisible, but Flamedramon either knew me too well or had some other way of sending my emotions. Either way, he knew to rest his armored hands on my shoulders from behind. He wasn't trying to hold me back or anything, but the contact did remind me I had to calm down. Shamefully, it also reminded me that he was there, as I had almost forgotten in my frustration.

I swallowed nervously, feeling his disapproval without even looking at him. And then I took a good, deep breath and instantly felt better. Not wonderful, but at least calm. My head was back in the game. So without taking my eyes off Renamon I pat one of his gauntlets a couple times in acknowledgement and appreciation. "Fine, then." Renamon finally got serious. "If you won't fight for the crest, I'll give you an even better reason to fight!"

She sprang, then, and like a ninja she disappeared, leaving nothing but a circle of disturbed dust and leaves where she stood. I heard the impact to my right before I had time to turn and see it: flesh colliding. But mine wasn't involved, though it came damn near close. Renamon's claws were interlocked with Flamedramon's. I was less shocked that he chose to block the hit than I was shocked that he was able. But the look on both their faces is what shook me most. As Renamon lashed with her other paw, Flamedramon caught it the same way, but neither wavered at all from their strictly focused countenances.

Wait! Renamon's paws were both locked! That was my chance to make a swipe for the crest, but before I could even touch it she jumped and kicked me in the chest like a mule without even letting go of Flamedramon. I stumbled back a foot or two before finally falling down on my butt. I guess she was holding back. Flamedramon sure wasn't, though. He looked ready to kill as he detached one of his hands from renamon's and raked his claws at her face. Of course, she used his other hand as a springboard to push herself away from the strike and get her feet back under her. It looked like Flamedramon's and my roles were reversed now. I saw him near his teeth and grunt.

But shit, Renamon wasn't going to fuck around! When she jumped in the air so high it would take a few seconds to land and crossed her arms over her chest, I recognized the move immediately. "Get down, Flamedramon!" I cried before taking off running in hope to escape her line of fire or at least shake her aim. However, Flamedramon disobeyed me and instead took only three steps in my direction before sliding the rest of the way to land right in front of me. I bumped into him before I had time to stop running.

Flamedramon just stood like a brick wall while I stumbled back a step or two. "Stay behind me," he ordered me, "I'll protect you." Moved as I was by the noble sentiment behind that, I was a little more concerned that as a wall of shining shards formed in front of Renamon's body, my friend was about to be carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey. I didn't have time to object, though. I only had time to crouch and cover my head.

"Diamond Storm!" And with that, the shards became shrapnel, launching themselves at Flamedramon and I like bullets. All the same, my protector stood stoically before the attack. Before the projectiles could nail us, though, Flamedramon spread his legs and stretched out his tail, for balance, I guess, at the same time as he raised his two fists. What was he going to do, block them?

"Flame Fist!" Oh... I guess so. As Flamedramon defiantly stood his ground, two fire balls shot from his gauntlets and collided in midair with a few of Renamon's shards. That wasn't enough to stop them all, but upon contact the fireballs exploded. None of the shards were melted or destroyed, but they were all deflected. A wave of intense heat hot enough to nearly burn me passed me by just as a few Diamond Storm projectiles did, a few of them landing in the ground (well, the thick bed of leaves) less than a foot from me before they shattered and disappeared.

Flamedramon saved me. "Did you just..."

"Dylan, I promise I won't let you get hurt. But I need you with me now." Only then did Flamedramon finally turn to face me and extend a gauntlet to pull me back up to full standing height. "Stand and fight!" he then shouted. But it wasn't like a command. He delivered that more like a hearty invitation with the smile that comes with it.

But I shook my head. "I don't know what you expect from me. I'm worthless in a human fistfight, let alone this crazy Digimon combat."

Flamedramon reminded me of my secret weapon by lifting the rifle slung over my front a little and shoving it into my hands. "Who said anything about using your fists?"

I frowned. "You're crazy. The crest cannot be worth killing over."

"Then don't kill her. You probably couldn't hit her anyway."

I wanted to proceed to ask, then how is this going to help? But while the answer was obvious, it was still a risk. I didn't want to try it... but what was I going to do, climb down? Crap, I still had no idea how I'd get down from there even if I won, but the real point is I had no choice in the matter. So... One of my hands gripped the handle of the weapon while the other used Flamedramon's to stand back up. "Don't get hit yourself either. I'd hate to..." I had trouble finishing partly because what I was about to say was totally cliche. But the bigger part was that it was a painful thought.

"Then don't hit me. Now fight!" Flamedramon declared before his whole body ignited in fire. Luckily I had let go by then. I wasn't worried about it; I figured it was an ability of his. He sure didn't seem bothered by it.

"Wow, Renamon," I remarked as the two of us really got our game faces on. "Now you _literally_ can't touch this. Go!" I raised my gun and fired away. Renamon danced around the bolts like she was repelled by magnetic force. I can't blame her, I guess. But by being so focused on me, she had to take her eyes off Flamedramon, who sprang into action at the same time that I did. But once he closed in it was I who was at the disadvantage. I had been taking total pot shots since I not only didn't have to hit Renamon, I didn't want to. But I trusted her to keep out of danger. The plan was to force Remamon to focus on two things at once, hopefully more on me, but Flamedramon and I had the same problem. I had to avoid hitting him, and he had to avoid jumping in my line of fire.

Renamon could only play defense. If she layed a paw on my partner, it wouldn't feel good. Flamedramon at least didn't have to dodge any of her attacks, leaving him free to unleash a blurry barrage of blows and strikes. I had to constantly run in a circle around the fight to avoid having Flamedramon covering up Renamon.

I don't think Renamon liked being put in the position she was in. The strategy achieved its purpose for a while, but there was no phase two to get the crest. While we were in the middle of creating one, Renamon figured out I was totally defenseless. That's why she switched targets entirely and leapt at me instead. But before she could tackle me, Flamedramon managed to tackle her! As cool as a move it was, shit, I was scared. Her fangs were bared, and her claws scratched my shirt a little before she was brought down from behind by the flaming Digimon.

She writhed in pain and screamed but couldn't escape his restraints. All I had to do was kneel down and snatch the crest. And I did. Hopefully for the last time. I was breathing hard after all that. So was everybody else. Flamedramon extinguished his shield of flame and let Renamon rise, which she did as gracefully as she would if she hadn't suffered severe burns. Still, I think it was the first time I had seen her breathing hard from fatigue. "The crest... is yours." She breathed with her signature smirk. "But your friend will have to earn it himself to use it, and only you can decide when that has happened."

I didn't think about that right then. "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. But each time I get close to squeezing information out of you, you find some way to weasel out of it! Who is 'she?' What has she done to the Firewall, and why? And why haven't you told us about any of this earlier?"

Renamon just crossed her arms, shut her eyes, and looked down. "The façade must end my lady. Face the facts: your good intent has brought ruin upon us."

I lifted an eyebrow and took a step back from Renamon. "Not you," she reassured me, "I understand you must be confused, but I'm seeking permission now to clear up that confusion." She then went back to muttering to herself, "No, it's not all your fault, but no matter whose fault it is, the situation must be contained. You have failed! Now let him succeed!" After a minute Renamon finally sighed and rubbed her head like she just had a stressful conversation. But she then announced, "She will not let me divulge her secrets. However... She has agreed to speak with you."

I wasn't thrilled about speaking to another person's auditory hallucinations - I've had to do exactly that before, actually - but Renamon's audio hallucination became mine when I heard a little girl's voice from nowhere tell me, "You shouldn't be here. But since you are, I reluctantly acknowledge you. Listen closely."


	14. I at last find God, kind of

**Don't forget, if you likes this story (or don't like it and want me to write other stuff) I really need you to review so I have a reason to keep working on it.**

Despite the voice's speech impediment and high pitch that seemed to belong to a four-year-old, it spoke with such authority - and volume - that it couldn't have been from a person. "I have been secretive and deceptive, but I have never been blind. I am not responsible for the Firewall's deconstruction, but I am aware that my actions have obstructed its reconstruction. I assume no name, but you may give me one if this is more convenient for you."

I looked around, but quite predictably nobody was up there in the tree with us. "I'm more concerned with what you are than who you are," I admitted with a hint of skepticism. "So what are you? A psychic? This world's ruler? A god?"

"There are no such things as the gods you know," the entity confirmed for me. While it was nice to finally have they proved, the continuation of her answer was a little hard for me to swallow. "But I am one of similar animates. I'm a... well, the languages you know have no term for it. But if I were to give myself one, I would call myself a Creator."

Well, damn! Maybe I wasn't as right about the whole God thing as I thought I was. "Are you claiming to have created the universe? Sounds a lot like a god to me."

"Well, if you speak of the universe you know, then no, I don't claim credit for that work. However..." Images of the digital world the circumference over flashed before me then. I think I must have seen the whole thing in a fraction of a second so small that no computer on earth could calculate it. I don't think the human brain was meant to be forced through such activity, because whatever unconscious muscle control kept my legs standing me up failed. Luckily, it was backwards that I fell, and Flamedramon caught me before my butt could even sink an inch. "My apologies," the being then continued, "I haven't forgotten that humans are incapable of such communication, but things slip out sometimes. What I am trying to express is that, yes, I created the digital world."

Sure, I may be a diehard skeptic on matters such as divinities, but as much as I would have liked some empirical proof I decided I have enough... for the moment. So like a smartass I remarked. "You certainly took a more... artistic approach to it." I pointed at Renamon then. "Who's she, then? Like an errand lady or something? Why do you need that if you're an all-powerful Creator?"

"I never claimed to be all-powerful," the sentience corrected me. I have to give this thing a name for my convenience, so let's just call her Sally. Sally the Creator. "I can create, but I may do little else. The only reason we may even communicate is through a link with my... I suppose you may call her an 'angel.' An agent of my will."

I couldn't help myself. I chortled. I didn't laugh - that would have been disrespectful - but I came damn close. Can you blame me? It was funny! Still, it was loud and long enough to be noticed. "Uh... Sorry," I apologized insincerely. "So what about the Royal Knights, then? I thought they were your 'angels.' Were we barking up the wrong tree this whole time looking for them?"

"It appears to me that you've barked up the perfect tree." Oh, great, she has a sense of humor. "I would not permit any of my agents to divulge the truth before now. Even if through some miracle you found them-" Yay, more ironic phrasing. "-they would have told you no more than Renamon has. Now, I advise you to ask any more questions you have now so you're not distracted when I _finally_ get to my point."

I could sense Sally the Creator's exasperation with me, but, oh, well, too bad. There was a lot of important stuff to talk about, and I was sick of being in the dark. I didn't have to think hard about my first question. "So who created you?"

"I'm not sure," was Sally the Creator's quick and ready response. Boy, what a cop out! I guess I'd just never know. Better move on.

Actually, it was Flamedramon who interjected, "I have one." I recoiled a little from surprise. I didn't even expect him to be privy to the conversation, but I guess that was just me thinking I was all special-like. "Why do I remember bits and pieces about Dylan?"

"Oh, right!" I remembered. I hadn't even thought of that! I even extended that to, "And why can't Armadillomon remember Jimena at all? Did he die at some point?" I also wanted to ask why the heck Armadillomon can't digivolve when (I assume) he could before, which inevitably led to how I can do it without a digivice, especially when those with a digivice sometimes couldn't. But I thought that would be too much at once.

"I don't know any of that either," Sally the Creator once again failed to deliver.

"You don't know a lot of things, do you?"

"I can see only what transpires in the digital world," was the excuse she tried to give. But before I could challenge it, she defended it. "The affairs of the other worlds are restricted from my view. Whatever caused Armadillomon's and Shoutmon's disabilities must have happened outside of the digital world. The solution to them may be in the same

place." Well geez, I'm no Digimon, but the word 'disabilities' sure sounded pretty harsh to me for the situation. Rude.

"You know what? I think I have a question you can actually answer." I was confident this time. "Why can I make Digimon digivolve? Something happened in the Nursery that made it easier, but I still kind of had the ability before that. Am I actually digidestined and just didn't know it or something?"

"No," was Sally the Creator's too strong answer. "It was my idea to assemble the digidestined, but my angels had to do the selection at random, for though I cannot see your world and judge your quality, I know Digimon must borrow human life force for digivolution. You know of two of the angels I sent, Gallantmon and Renamon.

"At first the digidestined were just meant to be like a police force, like the angels of my angels. Were a Digimon to cross the deteriorating Firewall, accidentally or purposefully, they were to contain him or her. You see, it was I who weakened the Firewall. Your Creator and I thought to bring the two together. But such a process must be slow, and so we did it slowly. However, I now am convinced some kind of outside force has accelerated the Firewall's deterioration. We have lost control of our pet

project." Boy, that's a nice thing to call someone's entire reality. A pet project, huh?

"I now believe Renamon was wiser than I to seek help elsewhere. From someone who was not under my dominion, either directly or through my agents. From you." I glanced indirectly at Renamon for a moment, thinking if that was her intent, she could have at least said 'please.' "Any human can induce digivolution. However, a Digimon must borrow a human's life force. And so, I created the digivice. It was intended to channel the life force more efficiently so less would be required. But..."

"But..." I echoed while making a hand gesture asking Sally the Creator to get on it with it.

"It can be learned without a digivice. However, the life force requirement is greater, for it cannot be channeled as efficiently. You may have felt the effect of this before." Of course! I had actually. Like when I had to help my friend become Flamedramon, I totally passed out. "You've used this power recklessly. Try and do it sparingly and only when well nourished, well watered, and well rested. One can die trying to cause digivolution in a state such as yours." Damn, Sally the Creator had a point. I was hungry as shit, and as for well rested, yeah, right. Flamedramon flashed me a look that was a mix of I-told-you-so and I'm-sorry-this-happened-to-you. By meeting his eyes I acknowledged it.

I started thinking through everything out loud partly to help me organize it and partly to invite correction for any incorrect information or conclusions drawn from it. "You don't know what's happening to the Firewall, though," I finished it all with. "Although we do know the cause of its deterioration does not originate in the digital world. That's a critical piece of information." I sighed then and started rubbing my own forehead in exasperation. "I want to call myself surprised, but I feel like that should have been obvious."

"So what do we do?" That was Flamedramon's question, though I was asking myself the same one.

I concluded, "We have to get back to the real world. The digidestined are wasting their time here." I sighed then. "I can't believe I was such a coward, thinking we were better off on the run. We should have spent this time investigating."

"How could you have known?" Flamedramon tried to console. "At least... You found me again. Right?"

Shit. Yeah, I did. "Yeah, I did. Now I feel guilty about that not immediately jumping to mind, but I did, and I feel glad for it." And before I could chicken out of saying the next part, I blurted out, "And as long as I'm expressing guilt... If it truly is my world that endangers us, then I'm sorry for that. I'm sure you've guessed not all humans are so bad, but still. It just makes me more determined to stop them."

The armored Digimon shook his head, but it was Renamon who interjected, "No one can hold you responsible for the mistakes of others. You wouldn't blame Flamedramon for the attacks of Kuwagamon or Monochromon, would you?"

I guess I was kind of fishing for that. But I felt like I needed it. "So, all knowing voice from beyond, is there anything else we need to know?"

Sally the Creator was momentarily silent. I could feel her presence, though; she just wasn't speaking. At least, not until she came up with the answer, "If you were not selected to be digidestined, it is because you lack some critical quality. If you insist on participating in this matter, take care that it doesn't become the ruin of us all."

I retorted, "What the hell do you think I've been doing this whole time? The biggest thing on my mind since the Gatsumon village incident has been _not_ screwing this whole thing up. I'm no fool, lady."

For a minute or two I got no response at all. "What, was it something I said?"

"She has severed the communication with you," Renamon then informed me. Well, that figured. I was just about done with her, too, anyway.

" _Dylan,_ _you better get back here,"_ Brad's voice then rang through the stolen digivice like he was concerned about something.

"That's... A lot easier said than done," I realized once I actually thought about how we'd establish that. Theoretically we could climb down, but the climb up was pretty treacherous. "What's the hurry? Let me guess, you met the god lady, too?"

" _Yes, but that's not the problem. How long's it gonna be?"_

I peered over the edge of the canopy and immediately felt dizzy. I think it was a good thing that Flamedramon accompanied me there to catch me again just in case. "Uh... It took us several hours to get up here. It'll probably take several hours more to get back down. It might even be night by then..." As I kept staring down I then reasoned, "Unless the climb doesn't go so well, in which case I estimate... Somewhere between 40 and 60 seconds depending on how quickly my falling body accelerates to terminal velocity depending on stuff like air resistance-"

" _Oh, shut up,"_ Josh's annoyed voice rang through in the background loudly enough for me to hear and obey.

" _Fine, then we don't have time for you to come back down to talk about it. Listen, we need to return to the real world. Like, now."_

"We were already filled in," I apparently had to point out. "Her Royal Creatorness already made clear whatever's destabilizing the Firewall is a human-borne problem."

" _No, not that,"_ Bradley had to correct me, " _Look, just shut up and listen."_

* * *

Funny enough, I actually wasn't happy about returning to the real world. Ironic, right? Well, here's the story: after I met back up with Josh and Brad, Josh socked me for stealing his digivice. Hard. But I deserved it, so no hard feelings. Brad started putting two and two together at the same time I did, apparently, but he told me practically nothing I didn't already know. He did tell me this, though: digidestined that weren't fugitives and therefore able to travel between worlds apparently informed them that our families had been questioned about our activities and were now under 24/7 surveillance. Visiting them would be a bad idea.

We did still have to return to the real world, though. The cause of the whole mess was over there to begin with, after all. Still, the reason I was unhappy with this was because _now_ I had to sneak into my house past FBI/CIA/WTF agent guards to let my family know I was alright. Brad and Joshua thought I was being stupid, and they were absolutely right. Hell, even Veemon advised me against it, and Renamon... well, you can imagine. Another indecipherable pearl of wisdom.

At least I knew a smart way to go about it. It would be best to take out the agents in the non-descript van clearly stalking our neighborhood before sneaking in through a stealthy infiltration just to be safe. That's probably what I should have done. What I _did_ do was totally neglect the first step and choose to walk right through the front door rather than sneaking through a window. I only did one thing right, really; I left Veemon outside. I posted him as a lookout, and he'd also be safe from my parents' overly caring eyes. I had no intention of explaining myself, only to tell them I was OK and ease their worries.

Well, a helicopter didn't suddenly fly over and drop a CQC squad over my house, so that was a definite plus. In fact, it seemed I had times the van's circling with my parents' being busy from work, the two of them working from home and having separate offices. I'll confess I was a glutton and dug through the pantry before approaching them. I knew what I'd find: Little Debbie Swiss cake rolls. Three boxes left. I was notorious for stealing them when not allowed to eat them so much, but damn did I need them now! Finally, food I could eat! It would have been rude to eat it all myself, though.

After stuffing my face with a box-and-a-half, I brought the other half back out to Veemon. "Psst," I hissed out the door before I tossed him a package. He just gave me a confused look. So I came out to sit with him. "It's food. Best food the human world has to offer, actually." Veemon smiled thankfully then.

"Really? Better than pizza? Thanks!" he exclaimed excitedly before beginning to chow down. Unfortunately, he did that before unwrapping them. Whoops. Quickly, I snatched it from him, to his dismay, and I had to unwrap the cake rolls before returning them.

"Don't eat the wrapping, bud... You just have to trust me on that one." And so we shared a good laugh and chowed down on raw sugary, creamy, toothbane goodness on my front porch like longtime friends on a regular day. My mouth was well past the point of its chocolate tolerance by end, but it was _so_ worth it. God, I love those things. I was glad I could get Veemon addicted, too.

Still, that wasn't what I came for, so I didn't stay long. That did get me the courage to go on, though. I was so unsure I should do this that I froze for almost an entire minute with my hand on the doorknob to my mother's office. What lies was she fed? Did she even still acknowledge me as her son? Perhaps they told her I tried to fight my way out and died in the process. They probably made up some BS story like me being a child pornography consumer or something as reason for taking me to begin with. Jesus, my thoughts went pretty dark over the course of that minute.

She was right there. I could hear her fingers typing on her keyboard, but... I couldn't face her. What a coward I still was, I thought. I didn't leave without doing _something,_ though. I snuck into my bedroom and opened my backpack very slowly to avoid the sound of the zipper carrying. In their I had sticky notes and a pen. I wrote, _If you ever loved or trusted me, believe these three things: I'm alive. I'm innocent. I'll return as soon as I can. -Dylan._

Then I stuck the note on her door and walked away.

And yet, I couldn't bring myself to leave yet. I just invited Veemon back inside, plopped myself on the couch, and turned the downstairs TV on. Not only do I not remember what was on, I never payed attention to begin. I just missed the familiar noise and surroundings. Soon as the process was complete I reclined and slumped and breathed the mother of all deep breaths. "Ugh..." I moaned, "Why couldn't it be possible to save the world from my couch?"

Veemon really didn't have a response for that and probably thought I was acting a little crazy. "Dylan, I think we should go..." Veemon eventually tried to get through to me. In all honesty I did sit on that couch longer than was really appropriate even under such inappropriate circumstances.

"Yeah, I know... I just didn't know when I'd ever see this again. Or for how long." I swallowed after admitting that and sat straighter up.

"Aww, Dylan..." My partner then came to sit up on the couch with me. "It's like... you think you're not allowed to feel anything because the stakes are so high."

I just waved him off, though. "That's not true. I see why you believe that, but I just know I can't let my feelings get in the way. Believe me, I still feel plenty."

Veemon sighed. "Well I wish you wouldn't pretend you don't. You look at it like you either have to be a hero or a regular human. But I think I know how you digidestined humans were chosen: you had to be a thinking, feeling person." I narrowed my eyebrows and finally made eye contact with the blue Digimon. "I know you were, at least. Renamon believed in you." Veemon seemed to hesitate before concluding, "Bradley believed in you."

Damn, now that hit me hard. I almost regretted using some of the tree-climbing time to catch Veemon up on things right then. But he was right. My friend thought I could handle the truth even before I tried so hard to harden my heart.

Then there was that sadistic 'test' in the nursery where I was running on pure primal instinct, something apparently by design. I was starting to see Veemon's point. "Heroes don't tend to be the touchy-feely type, Veemon. And I know myself." I gulped. "And I know that when I majorly screw up, it'll be because I was thinking about myself and not the task at hand. I can't tell you how many times I'd rather have been doing homework than, you know."

"But I won't let that happen!" Veemon then jumped off the couch and faced me directly, pounding a fist on his chest. "I'm your partner! Part of that means I won't let that fear come true. I promise! So please don't forget who you are, OK? Because I can see it doesn't make you emotionless. It just makes you sadder." God damnit, why was Veemon programmed to be so damn charismatic? My heart melted a bit despite all my attempts to harden it. This guy just got to me on some other level for some reason.

I finally relented with a sigh. "If you have that power, then stay close. I'm gonna need you." I hesitated before admitting, "You're a great friend, Veemon." Just then I heard a door open. Oh, no! Did we make too much noise? "Agh, it was stupid to stay so long! Let's split, Veemon!" we made a beeline for the back door, and I didn't even bother to close it behind me before running off into the woods. Then we'd reunite with Brad, Josh, Gabumon, and Shoutmon to plan our next move.

I did know this already, though; it would have to be some covert operation. We weren't in the land of Digimon anymore, so people were all over. And people didn't return from the dead. But for once I let my worry of that show on my face as Veemon and I fled. I'd have to trust he wouldn't let those fears go too far.


	15. I introduce my boyfriend to my parents

The last time I had eaten dinner with my family was probably three or four years before the whole digital world stuff even started. It was for a Thanksgiving because for once we got the entire Loon clan into town. Mom and Dad thought it would be nice if I ate with the family

for a nice change like normal people. Boy, did I make sure they regretted it. I was rude, lude, threw a toddler-level tantrum, and basically did absolutely everything to be as unpleasant as humanly possible.

Good times.

Yet as I knocked on my own front door years after the fact, I felt the same sinking feeling in my stomach as I did when I was told I'd be eating Thanksgiving with other people. When I heard Josh snicker behind me I glared back at him. "What?" he asked innocently, "You're knocking on your own door. It's just a bit weird."

"Well I don't wanna barge in and scare anyone," I retorted.

"I think we're gonna scare 'em either way, Dylan," Bradley pointed out.

I sighed. He had a point. We weren't coming home just for a social visit. "I didn't appreciate having this all thrust on me at once, if you recall. Hell, I still don't. So I wanna bring them in a bit more... deliberately."

"I don't get it!" Veemon suddenly declared from in the guys' and my plain view but not in sight when looking right out the door. Jimena and all the Digimon were there so at first my family would only see people they knew. "Why wouldn't your family like us?"

"You idiot!" Shoutmon began with a slap to the back of the head before I could jump in with a more polite way to explain it. "Humans don't know about us or the digital world. Imagine if a creature from another world showed up on _your_ doorstep!"

Gabumon interjected, "Well, to be fair, that's what happened to all of us." In a tone so cool and calm that I found it funny enough to chuckle at. After that we were just left with awkward silence, though. Nobody was coming to the door immediately.

Josh eventually decided he had waited long enough. "Well, I'm bored," he decided before opening up the unlocked door and rudely barging in.

"Dude!" I yelled after him scoldingly.

"What, you gonna tell me I'm not invited in?" he countered. I couldn't really argue with that, I guess, so I held my tongue and was content just to grumble before heading in myself, Brad behind me. From there one could see the living room, but even though I could hear a TV on, it wasn't the living room TV. That room was empty.

"Weird... They're watching TV upstairs," I observed just before I waved the others inside. Best get them out of plain sight if my family wasn't down there.

"What's so weird about that?" Josh asked.

"They always watch TV downstairs. It's bigger, and the room is always kept cleaner." I peered up the stairs. "I'd always watch upstairs so I wouldn't have to talk to them or deal with them and all the noise they make."

"Geez," Josh remarked, "You make it sound like you're one of those depressed kids."

"I know, right? But I just figured they couldn't scold me about having clothes on my floor if I didn't see them. The system worked most of the time." I turned to the other guests then. "Make yourselves at home, I guess. Help yourself to anything in the fridge, but if there's any pizza takeout in there it's mine. Don't even think-" I was then interrupted by a barking dog. "Well, look who's late."

One bark was followed by another, which initiated more from more dogs of greatly varying volumes and pitches. Paws began to tap and clatter on the wood floor in the way that always annoyed me as much as nails on a chalkboard or dirty sneaker soles scraping on a sandy concrete sidewalk. All my dogs were black and white, but it was an elderly border collie that never showed his age that first charged into the room like a raging bull that almost knocked me over by failing to put on the breaks before slamming into my legs. "Ugh, some things never change," I grumbled.

He was followed by two little yapping dogs, a Pomeranian and a papillon. "Hey, pet 'em so they'll shut up," I asked Brad and Josh just as the fourth and final dog limped in, another old border collie that by contrast showed a lot of signs of aging including arthritis. Poor guy.

"Gabumon, hide in case they come down!" Brad quietly ordered.

I overrode him, though. "Nah, don't bother. These idiots bark at anything and everything. The folks will just wait for them to shut up and unpause the DVR after that." Very reluctantly I bent down a bit and started showing the dogs a bit of fake affection to calm them down, even if all they were ever good for was making too much noise and annoying me. It took several minutes before they'd quit prancing and more before they'd lay down and get out of everyone's way.

"Are these Digimon?" Veemon asked innocently.

"Nah," I answered, "They're called dogs. You might come to like them. In fact you better, because when we go up, I'm gonna need you to keep them company in order to keep them quiet." As I lay a hand on the banister to finally head up for real, I held a hand back to the two guys. "Maybe just me. Take it slow, and all."

"That's what she said," Josh intelligently added. Everyone in the room just gave him an unamused look. "What? Just trying to break the tension!" he subsequently defended, "Now just get in there and do it!"

"Good call," I agreed with a deadpan tone and expression. However, that was to belie something. As I set my foot on the first stair I then turned around to snicker, "Oh, and... That's what she said."

* * *

I thought Thanksgiving was awkward, but next thing I knew I was stuck as the most awkward family dinner ever. For like 20 minutes nobody even spoke, just ate. For once we had to move to the dining room to fit every guest. Around a rectangular table we sat as me next to Veemon next to Josh next to Shoutmon next to Renamon next to Jimena next to Armadillomon (standing on a pillow on top of the chair) next to Gabumon next to Brad next to my parents and back next to me.

Dad was a slightly darker-skinned guy with a receding hairline and about a two-month-old beard that may try to be a nice guy in general but was really about caring for oneself before one could care for others. He's also the guy that'll tell you what you did wrong before he got into what you did right. My mother was a short, portly woman with hair dyed blonde to keep the gray away who would clean the whole house and say she was glad to do it but still secretly wish someone else would be nice enough to help.

Would you believe that even with Digimon at the table being what made it awkward, I still felt like the odd man out? Everyone else was having an actual dinner meal, and I was just chomping away at a fluffernutter sandwich. At least I finally got to eat some good food, though. That's a plus. But geez, it was as stone cold quiet in there as it was the moment I came out of the closet and even more tense.

Get this: apparently the story my parents were fed was that I was buying child porn. The assholes even took my laptop to make it look good. Try explaining to _your_ parents that you were arrested in relation to events occurring in another dimension and not in relation to child porn. Especially if you're gay. See if that works out for you. It sure as hell didn't work for me. I couldn't make them believe a word I said until I finally dragged them downstairs and introduced them to the gang.

And then we told our story. You know, _after_ they finally calmed down and got into the mindset that would let them accept new information. It took a couple hours, actually. I was against sharing all we had been through, but I knew we

wouldn't be convincing if we held anything back. Withholding information would give off the impression of dishonesty... though I did try and make the fights sound less bloody and dangerous. And I always made sure to make our guys out to be the noble heroes. But once that was all done there was little left to say that was progressive or productive.

Hence the incredibly awkward dinner.

Eventually I had to break the silence. "I apologize in advance for any harm or suspicion that falls upon you as a result of tonight."

My dad almost dropped his fork. "Why do you say that?" he asked suspiciously.

I held up a finger to signal waiting a moment before stuffing the rest of my sandwich down my throat and chugging my whole glass of water. Only then did I clarify, "We need to get back to where I was held. We've got to investigate it. Something important is going on. And we're going to use you to get there." I turned to Josh to remark, "By the way, great plan. And I admire the courage it took you to risk _my_ parents."

"Well, we can't use mine! They would've just shot at the guys coming to grab us and gotten us all killed."

We were digressing, so I brought things back on track. "No big deal, relax. You two aren't gonna get hurt... probably. You'll just be incarcerated, I bet. And interrogated. Needless to say, I'm gonna need you to keep your mouth shut."

"What is this?" my mother chimed in, frightened.

"Dylan, leave us out of this," my father needed no time to demand, "Your mother and I didn't consent to anything of the sort. We have jobs and lives!"

It was Renamon who had to be frank and cold. "That's the beauty of the plan." I could tell by the way she was staring from over her fingers interlocked with her elbows on the table that she was about to drop some cold truth. "We've reached the point where any reluctance or interference on your part can't possibly get in our way. Did you believe we all came because we were so eager to meet Dylan's family?" She leaned in then and lowered her paws a bit. "The humans believe you are most certainly under observation by your 'government.' And their assumption makes sense; that's what I would do. We expect that a team is already being mobilized to storm this house and take us all away. With the fate of your world at stake, we hope you won't mind the loss of some income or incurring a criminal record. I'm sure you understand."

I chimed in, "They won't be so stupid as to hold us so unsecurely as they held me this time... probably. So we better make sure we make our move at first opportunity. You probably won't have your digivices, but I can handle that. By that point, we'll be able to raise hell." I looked to Bradley then. "Especially with our new secret weapon."

"I don't know Dylan," Gabumon weighed in to criticize, "Don't forget the cost of that. You should save your energy."

"I need my energy for completing the job. That means I should spend it on whatever we need to make that happen," I countered. "But I'll make a judgement call, OK? I'll try and be conservative."

" _Now hang on!"_ My father stood up and placed a hand on the table. "This is too dangerous! Not just for us but for you! Why don't you _share_ what you know with the world and let someone else handle it?"

"There is no someone else, dumbass!" Josh shamelessly shouted back, himself standing up. "We're all there is! We're the digidestined! This is our responsibility!"

My mother stood up to follow, but my father cut her off before she could get her thought out. Typical dad. "Do you not realize what you're getting into? You could die! You could-"

"Shut up!" That was me, also standing up. "Do you have to _fucking_ remind us? The thought's scary enough without your help!" I slammed my fist on the table then.

When Gabumon rose, it was to step between my parents and I, holding a paw out in each of our directions. "Please, don't fight!" he pleaded, "There's no need for conflict!"

Oh, if only Gabumon knew. "I should have expected you not to believe in us. Or, me, more specifically," I started to rant.

Armadillomon, though, usually quiet, apparently

couldn't stay so anymore. "Dylan!" The way he shouted my name, partly angry and partly worried, drew my attention away from my own racing thoughts for a moment. Renamon managed to make eye contact with me after that, and her expression quite plainly commanded to keep my mind on the task and avoid these unnecessary conflicts.

I fumed in rage building but kept my temper in check thanks to those two. "This is going to happen whether you like it or not. Make your peace, and when the world is saved so will you be." I pushed my chair in then and announced, "I'm excusing myself. Somebody let me know when we're under arrest." I said that in an absolutely deadpan tone before turning away.

"Are you kidding me?" Shoutmon exclaimed in disbelief, "You're just gonna leave us alone over here?"

"Aww, Dylan!" Veemon then called after me, only he didn't stop there like Shoutmon. He also rose and ran around the table to follow me. I didn't acknowledge him, though; instead I headed for my fortress of solitude, my safe haven: my bedroom upstairs. I heard a couple more calls of my name from a couple more of the table's residents, but I didn't acknowledge them either. I just kept on heading up for my bedroom.

When I opened the door I held it open and let Veemon in first just because I knew he wouldn't have stopped following me at the foot of the stairs and I was just a polite guy. When I used my foot to shut it behind me I left it open a crack to indicate that Veemon was free to leave at any time (and, honestly, I hoped it would encourage him to leave sooner). From there I just went and plopped myself on the bed quietly.

Well, maybe not so quietly. "I know you're the kind of person who wants to do or say something to make it all better, and I admire you for that," I informed the Digimon without making eye contact. "But the best thing you can do for me is leave me alone and let me cool off. I'll be good in an hour or so."

Veemon bit his lip and didn't take any action right away. That was just more evidence for me that I was right about him, evidence that Veemon had extreme difficulty accepting that inaction was his best action. But after some moments he did... to a point. But he wouldn't leave me alone. Instead he climbed up on the bed with me and lay himself down on its other side. I wouldn't tell him to leave again, but I feared he'd be a distraction from me and hoped he would.

Hard as it is to believe, I, a teenager, did not have a great relationship with my family. Honestly I didn't have much justification because they did a whole lot for me, one example being middle school when I went into a deep, even suicidal depression. Bullies are a big deal in seventh grade. My folks thought a change of scenery would do me good, so first we moved to a whole new house. But to top that off, my mother quit her job to homeschool me through he remainder of middle school.

They really did a lot for me, but there were two big things I held against my parents. One is that they never trusted me to learn a life lesson on my own or accomplish anything on my own merit because of my disorder. I was impaired, not disabled. But the bigger issue for me had always been that for all my folks had done for me, they would speak as if I owed them for their trouble, particularly dad. "After all we've done for you, the least you can do is keep your room clean!" he'd insist, and one can substitute keeping my room clean for sweeping the house, keeping my grades up, or just about anything.

I've always had to fight back the urge to point out, "I don't remember signing a contract, asshole. Do you want a trophy for fulfilling your parental and moral obligations?" Heh, maybe saying I was fighting that back is wrong. Actually I never fought the urge to say it but just couldn't work up the balls to. Man, I wanted to, so bad. To slug him in the face before driving the point home. The desire created a fire in my gut that burned the lining of my stomach and lungs painfully enough to draw tears.

I didn't even realize I was crying until two scaly arms wrapped around me from behind to try wiping them off my face. The arms seemed way too long to belong to Veemon, but they wore not the armored gauntlets of Flamedramon, though the claws were still there. When I turned my head curiously I found it was indeed flamedramon, but his mask and gauntlets lay abandoned on my bedside table. If I was honest with myself, I'd have told him he had a handsome face but I just turned away after I confirmed his identity.

I guess I was still capable of triggering digivolution by accident, too. After all, it seemed I had to dig into my deep, inner self and feelings to trigger it, and right then I was once more feeling a repressed emotion. The arms around me then made themselves into a hug, at which point I felt my back behind pulled into Flamedramon's front side in a manner I assumed he meant to be comforting. It was more like he was sharing his body with mine than trying to take mine into his.

If it were anyone else I would have rejected that kind of contact, but I guess I just had a soft spot for him that made it seem not so uncomfortable. To his credit, he kept quiet like I asked him to and didn't make me talk about it, hard as that was for him. I guess he had to show that he was always there for me somehow, though. I would never have told him at the time, but I appreciated it.

Actually... we stayed like that for a bit longer than really would have been appropriate, longer than I even needed, but I surprisingly enjoyed it enough to not want to interrupt it. After maybe 45 minutes is when I _finally_ broke the silence, also giving permission for Flamedramon to speak to me, by requesting, "Please don't tell the others I made you digivolve by accident. They wouldn't be very happy with me for wasting my energy like that."

"I won't," he promised me. I felt his body shift a little then, like he was about to get up or do something but hesitated at the last moment. I gave him a moment to make it seem like I didn't notice, but I then turned my head back to see what it was, believing I had sold not noticing. Apparently, though, I had turned my head just as Flamedramon became committed. His head was craned up over mine, and there was a hint of... something in his eyes. It wasn't something I had seen for a good while, so I didn't recognize it immediately. But apparently just as I was turning my face around, Flamedramon was leaning his down toward mine.

He pecked my cheek before I could even stop turning - or before I could turn away.

When it landed, though, I thought maybe the timing was a good thing. Given the chance to reject the kiss, I would have, and I probably would have wished I didn't the next moment. Still, I still got to regret that I acted like I rejected the kiss by cupping a hand to my cheek, stunned for several moments, before wiping it off like there was some kind of contamination on my cheek. I don't know why; believe me, I had less than no problem with the peck. I guess my instinct was just to reject and brush off such gestures. Why? I won't pretend to know myself well enough to answer that.

I was very downhearted when Flamedramon turned away then and frowned. I guess he knew he couldn't be quiet after that, but he spoke very softly when he apologized, "I'm sorry," in such a sincerely downtrodden voice that I wanted to cut my tongue out for having caused him whatever negative emotion he was feeling.

"No... I'm sorry," I had to correct him. "I... I didn't mean..." Crap, I was lost for words. When I tried to come up with an explanation for my actions, my mind just flashed back to Sean like a door that wouldn't take me to the room I actually wanted. Maybe that was the real reason I brushed him off, because I subconsciously feared my next lover fearing Sean's fate. Or maybe I was just nuts. Like I said, I won't pretend I know. "Hey."

I turned my body then and I kissed his cheek back. I was so scared, but I was so relieved when it was over. The texture of scales under my lips rather than human skin was an odd one, and even after I pulled away I could feel the ghost of Flamedramon's cheek at the end of my lips. I was glad to see him smile after. That made me feel infinitely better. I didn't just do it for Flamedramon, though. Fact was, I felt what he felt. "Hey," he pointed out, laying a claw on the cheek he pecked. "Your cheeks are red."

"What? Oh!" I covered the one he wasn't touching with my own hand hastily. "That's... That's something humans do when we're embarrassed or... caught in a vulnerable situation. Blood rushes to the cheeks in order to-"

"It's cute." Well, if they weren't red before, they were then. Flamedramon started to climb over me a bit, and I rolled on my back in response so I'd keep facing him. With his hands on either side of my head he lay over me in a position reminiscent of a predatory lioness over a sick antelope fawn but the facial expression of a loving parent admiring his young child. And his head began to sink lower and lower and still lower until we kissed, for real this time.

My eyes shut instantly, and my arms gently wrapped around the digimon's torso so I could hold him for once. Our kiss was shallow and gentle like neither of us was still 100% sure it should be happening. It lasted maybe ten seconds before we both decided to pull away, at which point we judged each other's facial expressions silently for what each other thought of that kiss.

What we saw was encouraging.

Flamedramon lay himself down on me entirely then and cupped one hand behind my head and slipped the other under my back so he could hold me back as he much more confidently kissed me again. It was a far deeper and more intimate kiss than any between us before it. That's about when I couldn't tell you how long we kissed because I stopped tracking time. I'm sure we separated at least once, but I couldn't tell you if our total time was four seconds or four hours. All I know is I wished it was longer when we were interrupted.

Thankfully, the interruption had come from downstairs; we weren't caught. It was Bradley yelling, "Dylan! Veemon! Low flying helicopter!"

My first thought was that it took them long enough. My second was, "Well, that sounds like our ride." Flamedramon rolled off me but not before giving me one last smooch. When I stood up I smiled affectionately at him and remarked, "Let's make this look good. Oh!" I turned him back to Veemon then. It seemed that it took no energy from me to dedigivolve a Digimon and even gave me some of the energy back that I used to make it happen, though not all of it. "That's better. So let's go down there, surrender... and hope we aren't separated." I did hesitate before adding "for more that one reason."

 **This story is starting to near its conclusion. I think another five chapters or so, and that'll be it. Stick around!**


	16. I get interrogated by a Republican

**This chapter contains very sensitive material for some readers. Please know that the author means no disrespect to anybody, and any views expressed are solely the views and opinions of a fictional character in a fictional story, not necessarily of the author.**

It turns out the helicopter wasn't alone. As Veemon and I rushed down the stairs we caught headlights pulling up to my house through a window (and on the goddamn grass, too. Seriously?). A tear gas canister was thrown through that window, breaking it, just as he and I passed it. "They're trying to flush us outside!" I yelled to the others as we apparently gathered in the living room by default. "Let's stay inside as long as we can," I suggested with my shirt over my nose and mouth. "Don't run right out; they expect a little resistance." I coughed a couple times after that. "And don't run out the same door! Don't wanna look too synchronized. Struggle when grabbed, but don't take a swing at any of them; we want to antagonize them as little as necessarily possible." I bent over to cough again, and the others were also beginning to, some much more than I was and some a bit less.

Bradley was particularly affected, and Gabumon had his hands on his partner's side with a very frightening look on his face. "Bradley, what's wrong? Is it the gas?" he asked frantically. Looking around, the Digimon all seemed fine. I mean, not calm and collected, but they weren't coughing. Were they immune to the gas?

"It's called tear gas!" I explained. "It'll knock us out or kill us if we stay in here much longer, too. So let's go, scatter! Digimon, stick with your partners and make sure they get out!" I paused for another coughing fit. "Renamon, stay with my parents! Go!" I was coughing and hacking a lot after that, enough so that I had to go to my knees and put a hand on the ground and a hand on my stomach. But I had probably made us hold there, too long. The pain from the eye irritation became unbearable and forced me to shut them, blinding me. That didn't make it any better, but hopefully it would spare me from even more pain.

Yet, I couldn't yell for help because I was too busy trying to expel the toxic gas that just kept going right back in. I guess someone saw I was having a problem, though, and grabbed my hand. I couldn't have told you who it was, but it was probably a Digimon because I felt myself being pulled out of the house with little delay and no twists or turns. That meant, thankfully, it wasn't a literal case of the blind leading the blind. Momentarily I found it was fresh air circling through my lungs, not toxic air.

As I was wrestled to the ground I thanked God (you know, not literally) but didn't stop coughing or hacking. I guess some of the gas took longer to get out of my lungs. At least I was breathing real air as I was cuffed and forcibly stood back up. I did drag my feet as I'm lead to try and make it look good, but honestly I was glad to be led wherever I am. The whole time I was screaming in sincere pain in my eyes and now couldn't even rub them. I was sat down on something then and strapped in just as my eyes were forcibly open by a strange human hand. I wasn't happy about that until my eyelids were then soaked with some fluid being sprayed right in them, water, I assume.

Actually that made the pain a whole lot worse while it happened, but after that it was reduced to a dull throbbing rather than millions of needles stabbing my eyes. Still, I didn't want to open my eyes again once they were allowed to close, so I didn't. I just groped around my surroundings. Sadly, I couldn't use my cuffed hands for that, but I could use my head and my shoulders as best I could. I felt them bump something on my right, someone sitting next to me. "Who's that?"

"It's Gabumon. Are you alright?"

"Been better. Who else is in here? And where are we, anyway? It feels like a car."

"Jimena and I are here," Armadillomon's voice informed me from in front of me, "But this isn't a car. I don't have any idea what this thing is called." I nodded in acknowledgement and tried listening for information. They definitely brought cars because headlights shone up against my eyelids and engines revved. "Is anyone else being brought to us?"

"No," Armadillomon confirmed, "They were all loaded into cars. They're driving off."

I pursed my lips and huffed at that piece of information. I didn't like the group being split up... And I disliked being separated from Veemon then more than ever before. Right then I caught the sound of helicopter blades stirring up, and it was deafening. That was probably because the blades were _right above_ me. "Ah, hell... Guess they didn't have room for us all in the cars. Gabumon, Armadillomon, this thing is going to fly. And tell Jimena we're not in a car, we're in an 'helicóptero.'" I saw her perk up at that, but I don't think she fully understood what was happening until Armadillomon explained it all to her, which is right when we began takeoff.

Crap, I was getting _real_ tired of flying against my will.

* * *

Wanna hear something hilarious? Get this: everybody mistook Renamon for my partner. I guess I can't blame them; it was she with whom I escaped last time, after all, and even made digivolve once. I assume that's why the two of us were held together. Unfortunately, we were stuck in shabby folding chairs rather than the extremely comfy recliner I got during my last visit there. I almost preferred to stand, but my hands were cuffed to the table in front of me. So were Renamon's. "Do they think any of this can hold me?" she spat bitterly during a moment of alone time.

"If it can't, now would be the perfect time to share that information with me."

I waited a little while for a response, but the fox Digimon just made a "tch" noise and looked away. Humph, I guess she wasn't _that_ much of a ninja.

"You can't use your Diamond Storm thing?"

"If I do that the diamonds will form right in front of my body and rip through my arms. I'd like to keep my arms." I couldn't argue with that.

"I don't get why they're holding us together. I can't find any advantage to doing it. They never found my digivice, so for all they know I could make you digivolve at a moment's notice." I had to speak as if I was a digidestined since that was how they took me, and I was still paranoid about being recorded. I was even trying to imply to Renamon that's probably exactly why we were held together. So far my only interrogation was them trying to find my digivice after searching me and not being able to find it... And they searched everywhere.

 _Everywhere._

I wasn't just trying to tell Renamon we were probably being watched, though. That was also me trying to see if she thought now was a good time for us to make our move. "Perhaps," she answered, "They see how disadvantageous to us that would be. This isn't like last time, when we had much greater numbers." She was definitely picking up on me then, I knew. She was advising me to do nothing until we had a way to reunite with the others.

"Makes sense, I guess." I wonder how I'd make that happen. It wasn't like I could just refuse to speak until they brought us back together. That would never work. I also wanted to avoid pissing them off enough to resort to torture, because I never doubted for a second that was on the table. My heart began to beat a little faster as the interrogation room's door opened up, but I maintained my steady countenance as easily as I could. The interrogator, your average suit and tie guy, was accompanied by two riflemen, one with an M4 and the other with whatever that anti-Digimon is called. One of the two guards shut the door behind everyone, and then those two each took a position in the two corners of the room closest to the door, farthest from us.

"Well, I got bad news," the interrogator lead off in a very heavy southern accent. Freakin' redneck. "The search team went back to your house and turned the place upside down. Nowhere on the whole property did we find it. So I'm not buying your story that you dropped it in the scuffle." The interrogator then took a seat across the table from us. "Being a digidestined, it's clear you're aware of the stakes here. That's what confuses me most of all. I can't understand why you feel you have to work against us rather than with us. We're trying to save the world, too, you know."

I nodded in understanding. "I believe you. In fact, I believe one hundred percent that your... who are we being held by again?"

"The NSA."

 _Right_. That makes three government entities that had then held me. Was the FCC coming for us next? The FSG? Why not just send MI5 and the KGB, too? No, I was sure whoever this was, it was none of these entities. "Well whoever you are, I actually believe you're trying to save the world. Seriously, the intent is appreciated. But I have two great objections to you. First, I won't pretend to know what you're doing, but it's not saving the world. It's only making the situation worse. Second... well, you seem to believe I also want to save the world, but that's not true." I leaned in for effect and to really drive my point home. "I was trying to save the world, mind you. I got into all this at first to save myself, then to save the world. But now I know better. Now... I'm trying to save the _worlds._ And the digidestined will not be on your side as long as your work dooms either of us."

The interrogator shrugged. "It's not healthy to anthropomorphize them." Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Renamon's expression become a glare. "What are Digimon? They're not people. At best they resemble something like a terminator, an artificial intelligence granted a physical body... in order to wreak havoc." He paused. "I hope you haven't forgotten the Monochromon incident. All the destruction to the surrounding terrain, and that was just in an empty desert. That's not even to mention... 9/11."

Renamon cocked her head curiously. I couldn't blame her; she couldn't possibly have known what that was. "I don't know what Digimon have to do with terrorists, bud. I know there are a ton of conspiracy theories out there, but seriously? Digimon? Don't even try and tell me it wasn't humans that started 9/11."

Renamon gave an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'll bite. What is this '9/11?'"

Aww, crap. I was hoping I wouldn't have to be the one to give the lesson, but if I didn't now, I couldn't trust the interrogator to give an accurate picture. "On September 11th, 2001, some crazy people seized control of four commercial airplanes midflight. They did this so they could crash the airplanes into famous landmarks. One crashed into a big government building and killed over a hundred people." Renamon, for once, looked startled. I couldn't blame her, but seeing her scared made me scared. It was like seeing a person dismembered before your very eyes, something that isn't supposed to happen. "The passengers of another plane tried to take the plane from the hijackers, but all they managed to do was stop it from crashing into another building by crashing it into the ground. All the passengers on that plane still died. But the worst part is the other two planes; they both reached their targets, and the toll was catastrophic. All in all, about 3,000 innocent people died, and another 6,000 received various forms of injuries. Since then it's started a goddamn war that's killed thousands more on both sides. There are lots of conspiracy theories surrounding the incident, but none of them include Digimon."

By the time I finished, Renamon wasn't scared or shocked anymore. She was _pissed._ "How dare you blame my kind for this?" she shouted at the top of her lungs, standing up as much as she could. Both guards tensed and raised their weapons a little. "What could Digimon possibly have to do with that tragedy?"

The interrogator tried to look calm as he stood and backed slowly away from the table, but I knew better. That's right, you little rat, run from the fox. "If we could fake a moon landing during the Kennedy presidency, we could certainly fake a plane flying into a building years ago. But those towers did not fall because of any plane; it was a Digimon who destroyed them."

Now I was glaring. "Could you bring back my phone if you still have it? Because I'm calling bullshit. 9/11 isn't like the moon landing. People were _there,_ thousands of them!"

The agent nodded, acknowledging me. "And most of them couldn't understand what they saw. The Bush administration leaked the plane story. Those who weren't there were easily

convinced. Those who were there were also easily convinced for the most part. Either they assumed their minds were tricking them or knew it would be best not to tell others what they really saw. Money bought off most of those who insisted on their giant monster story, and intimidation muzzled the rest with very few exceptions who now, officially, never existed."

I took a visible, audio breath as I pondered that claim. Far-fetched as it was, I couldn't dispute that. Not that I'd just instantly believe it, either - that's not how the burden of proof works. I guessed I'd just have to suspend judgement. "Well regardless of who started 9/11, I see no reason to take that out on innocents. Are you a Republican? I bet if you didn't fear all Digimon for one's alleged involvement, you'd fear all Muslims instead. But you make the same mistake in each case."

"'Muslims?'" Renamon asked curiously like she wanted a definition.

"Later. Point is... I really don't care who hurt others. No point in griping about that. I care about who is currently hurting others. That appears to be you."

The interrogator was just amused. "How ironically Christ-like." Yep, definitely a Republican. "But all this leads us no closer to your digivice."

Ugh, when were we supposed to make a move? I couldn't find any opening! I exchanged a look with Renamon that was equally exasperated, but I couldn't tell her that we'd have to keep stalling and playing this out. She'd just have to know. Like the actor I was I took another breath like all of a sudden I didn't seem so sure of myself and considered. "You're gonna need a better case to convince us to flip, which sounds like your goal. But... I'll confess to being curious. I'm an open-minded guy. What do you have _not_ dated over a decade ago?"

My interrogator apparently had something hidden in his lap that I couldn't see through the table: a file folder. "I don't need you to flip. We're already on the same side. I just need you to coordinate with us." Without another word he faced the file to Renamon and I so we could read it more easily and opened it. Renamon looked only slightly disturbed like if a cat suddenly walked across the table. Me, though, I wanted to puke. A lacerated, decapitated woman's corpse was the picture on top of a stack of pictures, and she appeared to be lying on the floor of her own home. Her head was still partially in the picture... face up.

"Oh, that's not pretty," I stated the obvious as I averted my eyes. Renamon, with the limited hand and wrist mobility available to her, was for some reason curious enough to continue flipping through the pile of photos, surely of more grizzly bodies.

"No, it's not," agreed the agent, "Unfortunately, despite your views, not all Digimon that appear in our world are as nice as the ones you've met. And when they get here - sometimes by accident, and sometimes not - their interactions with humans aren't as... _mutual_ as you two's." I had to try very hard not to bust out laughing. Renamon and I had far from a perfect relationship. Though that did bring my mind back to Veemon. Man, I hoped he was OK. I wished he was there with me. "These _interactions_ took place during such phenomena as when that blue Digimon appeared in our world."

"His name is Veemon," I pointed out matter-of-factly."

"Then you should be glad _Veemon_ didn't react the same way. You should be glad it was him you found and not something else."

I wasn't thrilled about the use of the word 'something.' "I already am."

The interrogator clearly wouldn't make any headway with me, and maybe he thought it was because Renamon was in the room with me. "Let's take a walk," he suggested, using a key to unlock the link in the table that held my cuffs down to it. I assumed I was allowed to stand, so I did. Renamon didn't, because she was noticeably not released.

"Her, too," I demanded.

"We're about to have a _private_ conversation, Mr. Loon. There will be no need for extra ears." The agent opened up the door then. "After you."

Well, what choice did I have? "Be right back," I reassured Renamon before I stepped out.

"Yes, he will," concurred the agent, which only scared me a little more.

The good news is the agent was true to his word that we would be alone. I guess he thought he could handle an unarmed teenager in cuffs alone. Still, he had a pistol on my back the whole time for caution's sake, which probably made him feel a bit better. To be honest I wasn't a hundred percent sure I wasn't being led to my death, but the time still didn't seem right. We learned only the motives behind the government's actions, not what those actions actually were. Truth be told, nobody had the mindset of aligning ourselves with these people when we came into this, but now that it was a possibility - not a probability, mind you - it was something that had to be considered. "So we're gonna talk, huh?" I was being led downward again, but luckily it was to an elevator this time. That would make the trip much more pleasant, though not as pleasant as last time when I had the gun. "Then let's talk. Starting with those shiny new rifles I've never seen in a shop before. Those were definitely not designed for killing humans."

"Never try to handle something you can't kill," he advised me like he was my uncle or something, "It's no different than a cop with a sidearm."

"You're still not explaining what exactly you're trying to do about the digital world and the deconstruction of the firewall." The elevator hit its destination and dinged. The doors opened to a floor I had never been to, likely the very bottom, with some sort of huge machine three or four stories high that took up most of the place's space. Surprisingly, though, what I couldn't find was any other people in the area. We walked out onto a catwalk just above it. "What's your angle there?"

"What you see below you is the remains of our attempts to ally with the Digimon," the agent explained to me. "Anything run by data can be reprogrammed, so when Digimon appeared to us we first tried to change their code a little. You know, make them less hostile. Of course, in order to do that... we had to know what the original code and data was. And the only way to get that was..." He didn't have to say. I knew. "Well, you know Digimon. As long as they die in digital space, their code can be reassembled. That's what the device below us was for: a sort of simulation digital world."

Wheels started turning in my head. "I won't try and pretend I didn't free hundreds of Digimon, partly because you already know and partly because I'm rather proud of myself for it. So, I assume that when a certain Armadillomon partner couldn't remember his partner, it was because you killed him. Am I right?"

The agent shrugged. "It's possible. We can't explain the memory loss, but that seems to be what happens sometimes when a Digimon gets reset." I wasn't thrilled about the use of that word.

"If you wanted that explained, all you had to do was ask me. You can't encode a Digimon's soul. Naturally that gets lost when they get murdered for science. I mean, I'm anything but an anti-science guy, but something tells me there's a board of ethics nobody consulted with." So that was why Armadillomon had no knowledge of Jimena. Still didn't explain why Veemon remembered me in spite of things, though... And it didn't explain something else either. But I wondered, "What about his digivolution? Jimena couldn't make him digivolve when the two reunited." And then... brain blast. "And Shoutmon! Was he ever a captive here? Why can't he digivolve?"

The interrogator was originally going to answer, but he froze at Shoutmon's mention. He didn't seem so sure I should know that. Still, silence spoke volumes. "Shoutmon was here, too! You can't replicate the soul of a digimon's code, so when he died he no longer synched with Josh's digivice! Same with Jimena!" My mind was running on all pistons now. "And those feral Digimon like Meramon and Monochromon! That's what happens when you kill a Digimon over and over again until there's nothing left of its soul. You probably released Shoutmon back when you wanted to be friendly with the Digimon but thought better of it the more and more you failed!" I pointed down below. "And that machine? That's what's killing us! The Creator of the digital world made a small hole that let some Digimon through, but this thing dug in there and is ripping that hole open!" I felt the gun push into my back, so I leapt forward and spun around 180 degrees. "You stupid fucks! You're killing us! You're killing us all!"


	17. I call for backup

It was then or never. So, I made my move. I made Renamon digivolve, which would surely have broken her binds. And then... well, nothing happened. Not immediately. I don't think the agent had any idea I even did anything at all. I wasn't even sure I did, but I wouldn't know until she showed up. I'd have to stall in the meantime. I had to stall because there'd be no point in running. There were two things Renamon, now Kyubimon and I had to do before we left: that machine had to go, and my comrades had to be liberated. I didn't know if Kyubimon would come find me first or free the others, though. But I was sure she would find me once she tried.

"You're insane! And everyone not in this building against their will is complicit to the apocalypse!" I accused the agent. I think he gave up on being nice then, because I got grabbed by the arm and pistol whipped. I was reduced to the ground, clutching my head.

"You are getting on my _last_ nerve, boy," the interrogator growled. He was glaring, and he flipped the safety of his weapon off. I didn't know if he'd really shoot me here, but I found it hard to believe he wouldn't. Especially when he brandished his badge and added, "Do you know what this is? This is a free pass for me to do anything I want and get away with it. And I am extremely tempted to use it right now." This guy's evil glare said it all. He'd absolutely pull that trigger on an unarmed teenager laid out on the ground. This was a bad guy, and I'd have to find a way of dealing with him - soon. "We've got three more captives, all your digimon, and most importantly their digivices. Do you think for a second I'd get so much as a dirty look if I lit you up like a god damn Fourth of July firework?"

I stayed down for two reasons. One was that I didn't want to give the freakin' sadist another reason to blow my head off. That was more of a just-in-case reason, though. I didn't actually expect the guy would kill me, and this is why: it wasn't because I had faith in his humanity. Fuck that. What I had faith in was the giant yellow fox running at us from the interrogator's blindspot.

* * *

"Calling all digidestined," I spoke into Jimena's digivice by the time my party had gotten clear of the facility because she didn't do much English. It didn't lose me that we weren't taken to a desert this time; we were near the peak of a mountain this time. Keeping my balance while Kyubimon ran at top speed was not an easy task. "Two digidestined and Digimon are captives of the US government. Bradley Seaman and Joshua Hitchens. Shoutmon and Veemon." Admitting the last part put a real lump in my throat that I had to swallow before I could continue.

Someone fucked up a little less than last time; we weren't all taken to the same place. Renamon and I, we searched the whole place for the others of our group, but they weren't there. Finding out Veemon wasn't there made me very downcast, but I didn't really have the time to feel it, and I was grateful for that in the moment. "Anyone who can track their digivices and free them, please do."

" _Hey, who the hell is this?"_ some Russian female voice barked over the digivice. " _How do we know this isn't some trap?"_

"My name is Dylan Loon, and I don't know how to convince you this isn't a trap!"

" _Anyone know this guy?"_

" _Never heard of him."_

" _Dunno, who's his partner?"_

Shit. I wasn't convincing anybody.

" _My name is Thomas Drake, and I know this guy. He ain't digidestined, but he's one of the good guys."_ What? No way! Yes, that's exactly what I needed right then! " _What's goin' on, man? Thought I forgot you, didn't cha?"_

" _Aman Sahid. Kunemon and I vouch for Dylan as well."_

"Look, anyone from America or willing to travel needs to get back here now. This-"

Kyubimon interrupted me by slowing to a stop and laying down. Would you believe we had been riding for hours, and she wasn't even breathing hard? She didn't stop because she was tired. She stopped because we had reunited with Gabumon and his passengers, Jimena and Armadillomon. We were near the base of the mountain, and I think we were on the opposite face of the mountain from the facility, too. I dismounted and spoke, "This isn't just about captives either. I think these government facilities are also responsible for weakening the firewall! They've got these machines that tear Digimon apart and reassemble them..." Yuk, I thought to myself before going on, "And I don't know the science behind it all, but I bet each use tears at the firewall a bit somehow. And if it doesn't, I'm still 99% sure these Digimon didn't sign any consent form."

" _That explains why the Digimon who end up here by accident aren't all discovered. They're rounded up,"_ reasoned one American-sounding girl.

The Russian barked again, " _Hang on, if this guy is not digidestined, why does he have a digivice, and how does he know about us?"_

"I'd rather not mention the name of the person with the big mouth if that's OK with you." Thomas and Aman knew; they demanded to when we first met up with them.

Thomas defended me while defending Brad's anonymity, thankfully. " _Look, we can trust Dylan. He ain't got no reason to turn on us. Hey, who's digivice you on, man?"_

"It belongs to Jimena... Shit, I don't remember her full name. You talk." The last part was to Jimena herself as I shoved the digivice in her hands "Dilos quién somos, que el digivice es tuyo, y que pueden confiarnos."

And she did as I said. "Soy Jimena Montoya Bautista, y esto es mi digivice. Mi compañero es Armadillomon; está al lado."

"¡ _Jimena_! _¿Estás allá?"_ That was a male voice I didn't recognize, but thank fuck for the fact that it was a bilingual one. " _If Jimena trust him, me, too."_ I decided it wasn't the time to be a grammar Nazi. " _What you need from us?"_

Finally, I was getting somewhere. "I need a few digidestined to spring the others I mentioned earlier. Whoever can track them, please do it."

Renamon reminded me, "We can't leave ourselves without destroying that machine."

"I know. So we need a two pronged attack. Half of available digidestined need to spring those guys. I need the other half to come to my position by tracking this digivice..." I couldn't believe I was about to say the next part. "And you gotta be ready to blow stuff up. We're destroying that machine."

* * *

Would you believe two of the guys that showed up to me were Aman and Thomas? You probably would, because that's not all that crazy. And you'd be right to do so, because it happened. But I guess the prospect of blowing stuff attracted lots of people; luckily they were all smart enough to sneak into the area, because a force as large as approximately a hundred, half human and half Digimon, ended up reporting over the next several hours!

"Hey. Round up any flying Digimon around here and arrange a way for our camp not to be seen from the air. Cover the tree canopy with severed branches or something," I ordered numbers 83 and 84 when they showed up. I hadn't expected so many! I was hoping for maybe a small squad of no more than 10, but there's no way we could be in and out quietly with such a large force. We might not even get off the ground at this rate. It almost seemed like a good idea to jump the gun and charge in long before many of them arrived.

Renamon, dedigivolved, stayed my hand. "You still need to rest from the digivolution earlier," she kept insisting, "And so do many travelers. In due time, don't you worry." And I guess if it would be such a big job that we really did all have to be at a hundred percent.

"I honestly want to tell most of these people to go home!" I expressed to her once we were in private. We weren't alone, but our surroundings were so busy that nobody could have been listening in on us. "This is way too dangerous! The more people we have, the greater our chances of..." I didn't finish. So Renamon took a guess.

"Casualties?"

"I don't like the way you can read me like a children's book." I had to preempt Renamon before she dropped a nugget of wisdom. "I'm _not_ doubting that we should still attack. And I'm not afraid of loss of life as a result of this move... cruel as that sounds."

"That doesn't sound cruel." I whipped around to find Gabumon had come with us without my knowledge. "It just sounds resolute."

"Then what do you fear?" Renamon asked of me.

I took a breath before answering. "I'm afraid of how I'll live with myself afterward. If I'll sustain a mental wound that never heals... Or if I become so calloused that such a thing wouldn't affect me." I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "I can't say I'm not afraid of dying myself, too. But since when has that stopped me?" I looked to Gabumon then. "I bet there are few things you wouldn't do for Brad. There's no need to pretend you'd rather be here than there. But I imagine the thought of people holding him captive is the reason you can live with shedding blood right now. Right?" He didn't answer. "I know the feeling, probably a bit better than you think and definitely a bit better than I'm willing to elaborate on... Let's not live either to regret this or to embrace it." I leaned back against a tree and sighed again. "Does someone wanna stop me before I get too dreary?"

I was real glad for Renamon's interjection even though I had to ask for it. "Perhaps you don't have to lead from the battle. What if you kept a safe distance?" What I was not glad for was the interjection's implication.

"'Lead?' Why would I be leading this?"

Renamon lifted an arm and gestured to our busy surroundings. "This is your doing. Your crusade, if you will. Besides, I recognized your leadership skills during our first time at one of these places." That's true, she did say that. And I felt about the same about it then as I did in this moment.

I was too tired of the exercise to argue with her this time. "Fine. Tell everyone to gather around me in an hour," I went ahead and conceded.

Gabumon asked me, "Do you think you will have a plan by then?"

I shrugged and admitted, "What choice do I have?"

* * *

I had to ask to borrow a digivice. I could have shouted loud enough for everyone to hear me, but I didn't think having everyone huddled so close and shouting an echo's travel away from the target would be smart. "Thank you," I told the person whose name I did not know. "This is the plan: there's no way these bases have anti-air defenses, since that would be way too costly and too conspicuous for a secret area. All the same I want all Digimon capable of high-altitude flight and significant air-to-ground attacks to be on extra alert, as they will be the first wave of this attack.

In short, it's a bombing run. Pretty much the whole building above ground is a façade to disguise the important stuff underground. Renamon and I confirmed that there are no further allied prisoners inside the facility anywhere, so there is no risk of friendly fire. In short: I want you people to make it look like that façade never existed." I pointed to Thomas. "Thomas will be leading the bombing run. I want a quick, simultaneous burst of attacks to level the building to minimize any possible response time on the part of the occupants. I expect loss their casualties to be minimal, as few to none have reason to hang around in that building." I decided not to mention that if anyone did die in that... Fuck 'em. They took me, they took my friends, and they took Veemon. They brought this on themselves.

"The first wave will return here as soon as their work is done and escape the counterattack that may come. But I expect no enemy resistance as a response to this, as for fear of more air raids they will retreat deeper underground. This is why we need the second wave."

I pointed to Jimena then. "This girl may be young, but she's tough as shit. She's your leader. You are part of the second wave if your partner Digimon is capable of digging at great speeds, like Armadillomon." At some point while I was talking, Jimena called over a translator to explain everything to her as I said it. "Were I being attacked from above, that's where my eyes would be. So I expect the enemy to anticipate us infiltrating from above, which is the simplest way to reach the objective. That'll mean it's also the worst way. But our diggers will instead create tunnels for the second and third waves to attack from below.

My third wave is my tank/demolitions regiment with Kurt Patterson at the head." He was a hard-headed guy who was one of the first to show up, and his partner was some mini dragon decked out in armor gear named Commandramon, which just seemed

too perfect. "Digimon with tough armor or protection of some sort must be up front to defend against specialized anti-Digimon weaponry. It may also benefit Digimon with smaller digivolutions to digivolve once you're inside, as I don't believe these weapons are as effective on champion Digimon... at least, mine wasn't when I tried it." That was back during the fight with Monochromon. "I also recommend any human who can get their hands on those weapons to do so. They're easy to use, and they're non-lethal subduction weapons when used on humans... though do avoid friendly fire at all times. If all you can get is a bullet gun, I guess I can't stop you, but for _fuck's_ sake, don't shoot anyone who isn't shooting at you. This is a war, not an extermination." Jesus, look at us. We were a bunch of kids with giant monsters marching to slaughter... and I was the one ordering it.

"If your Digimon does not fit those description, or if you are not OK with having blood on your hands, consider yourself special teams. I want you surrounding the destroyed façade and accepting the surrender of whoever emerges from the facility beneath; you are not to terminate compliant subjects, but we can't have them running either. However, some

of your team may be called upon to assist in the attack on the machine in a manner this plan did not anticipate, which is another reason I want you all close at hand to the battleground. I will be in charge of you. Any questions?"

The people were silent. "If you have any later, come find me. One last thing: we're here to destroy their machine, not eliminate them. As soon as it's gone, send an alert to us all. At that point, everybody flees to the digital world, where we can't be followed. Easy peasy. And if anyone gets captured, we leave no one behind! You got that?" That actually got a bit of a reaction from the mass. It wasn't a big cheer but an acknowledging one. "Find your leaders and report to them now. I want to initiate this thing within an hour and get out within 80 minutes. Go!"

My squad ended up being about forty in number. I guess lots of people didn't want to get into the fray. Could I blame them? I didn't. The air strike team had it lucky, getting the quick and easy job. Man I wish I was with them, but I didn't know aerial combat as well as all hear veterans. Plus I had no flying Digimon at the moment. So instead I was on the ground behind the tree line, part of the perimeter around the area. I gestured for the digivice of the guy next to me, and he formed it over. "All teams report."

" _Hornets ready for take off."_

" _Moles have surrounded the facility."_ That was Jimena's translator and de facto lieutenant, I guess.

" _Tanks ready to roll_."

As soon as I gave the order I'd basically be declaring war on my own country and assuming all the responsibility that came with that. But in that moment, the choice between my country and my world was as easy as the choice between chocolate or piss flavored cake (though one may disagree with my choice, one still must admit the choice is easy either way). "Then get it over with. Start."

As soon as the first wave appeared overhead, I knew I didn't have the stomach for what would come next. And I definitely didn't want to do it again.


	18. Flamedramon becomes addicted to garlic

**Boy, this was an epic one! I got emotional writing it, and I hope you do, too. At this point there are only one or two chapters left for the story. Stick around for its epic conclusion coming soon! It will be the first multi-chapter story I have ever finished!**

It worked.

I'm sorry. Were you going for an action-packed description of a paramilitary operation involving otherworldly monsters? OK, when I put it like that, I guess it sounds pretty exciting, and having been there I can say it actually was. But you already know what happened: you know the battle plan already, and it went off without a hitch. There wasn't even a casualty, at least on our side. I didn't care enough to go down and check for others. Perhaps that was cold, but there were also other matters to which to attend. There were injuries to heal, friends and partners who had to find each other, and future plans to make, particularly how to cure the disease now that it had been diagnosed.

I abstained from all that, though, for the most part. I had no plans for another strike, and I sure was no medic. Apparently there are one or two digimon include the acceleration of healing to minutes or even seconds for shallow scratches. Now that's awesome! The only productive thing I really did was make sure Jimena and Armadillomon were safe (and they were). After that I needed some time to cool down mentally. It was a whole lot of noise and action after all.

You already know how I 'cool off,' right? I won't go over it again; it's probably as unfun for you to hear about it as for me to go through it. I would have liked Veemon back with me; I decided then I'd never leave his side again. I wished we had more time to develop what we had between us before then. I'm reluctant to use the L-word recklessly, especially since it's so often spoken prematurely. I would have hated to risk blowing my feelings out of proportion. But I can tell you that while I expected thinking of him to make me feel better, it just made my heart physically hurt with longing because he wasn't there.

One can imagine that didn't help me cool down.

By the time I was done, the dozens of digidestined had gone down to about ten, including Jimena and I. That may say something about the time I needed to cool off: it was fairly high. At least I didn't have to rush it since Jimena wouldn't have left without me. That meant I had a ride to the digital world, which looked like our only retreat, seeing as flying around with Thomas and Birdramon in this world was just asking for trouble. I guessed we'd just have to hope we could reunite with the rest of our friends there. But before we blindly jumped, I wanted to see i we could contact them first and maybe arrange a rendezvous point.

Thomas used his digivice to call for the guys. "Brad, Josh, are either of you there?" I was on pins and needles during the eight seconds of radio silence between the call and response.

" _Hey! Damn, that shit got crazy, but we got sprung!"_ Josh shouted, still clearly high on adrenaline.

Bradley was next with, " _Hey, who's with you? Is Gabumon there?"_ He was much more anxious than Joshua.

Still, I was glad for a chance to deliver good news. "He's standing right beside me, bud, and I know he wants to see you. Where can we meet up?" I thought I heard a noise overhead then, and it turned out I was right; I tensed ad the spinning blades of a helicopter announced its arrival before it was even visible over the mountains. "Shit, get back to me on that. We've got a chopper bearing down on us!"

Josh sounded no less excited as he announced, " _Don't stress it! That's just our ride. Hey, Sadie, say hello!"_

" _How d'ya do, boys?"_ Sadie was clearly British. " _Dad's an RAF pilot who taught me a thing or two. Do me a favor and_ don't _shoot me down."_

I breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll call off the missile batteries," I joked dryly. At least I wasn't about to get peppered by bullets. "I've also got Jimena, Armadillomon, Renamon, our friend Thomas, and like, ten pairs of digidestined and digimon I don't know." I gulped when I asked, "Who else is in that copter?"

" _Shoutmon,"_ was all Josh initially said. It took a beat for Josh to continue, " _Hang on, I got a little blue guy here who won't shut up until he gets to talk."_

My heart dropped, and I was about to chew out Josh for that gag, but Veemon got to speak first. " _Dylan! Are you OK?"_ I sighed out loud and rubbed my forehead in distress even though that same distress was leaving me. I paused for about a second before I felt clear enough to reply.

"Yeah... yeah, not a scratch on me, Veemon!" I thought his arrival would calm me, but for some reason my heart was only beating faster. "Do you think we can stop separating like this? I, uh..." I tried my best to express my feelings without giving all my dignity away. "I don't really like being alone." For some reason I felt the need to sniff phlegm back, and I refused to admit that I was about to cry _again._

I don't know if Veemon picked up on my feelings, but he behaved as if he did: he took a moment to think, too, before coming back with a sober, " _Yeah... no more of that,"_ which I thought meant much more than it said syntactically. I figured that when all was said and done I'd have to get better about expressing affection for others, but in the meantime, I blamed it on autism.

" _You boys can have your little reunion in a moment. I'm setting down!"_ Sadie declared. She appeared to be landing just beside the _smoking_ ruins of the facility we just destroyed, so I ran out there to meet them. Thomas, Gabumon, Renamon, Jimena, and Armadillomon all have chase along the way.

My heart rate accelerated as the copter got lower and lower, and that wasn't just because I was running. "I can't believe this," Thomas expressed, "We're so close to the end. A few more of these demolitions, and the fight is over."

" _We still need to find the rest of those machines,"_ Brad wisely pointed out.

Thomas remained unfazed. "So? We got thousands of searchers, now! We'll find them." I found his optimism very refreshing.

While the helicopter was two hundred feet over the ground, I thought I saw Gabumon suddenly tense up. Before I could ask him why, Renamon mumbled, "Something's wrong," worriedly. Looking over my shoulder, her eyes were wide and alert. I didn't have time to say anything before Renamon commanded, "Scatter!" and immediately after tackled me to the ground.

"What?"

Boom _!_ I wasn't facing the explosion, so I didn't see it, but it made my ears ring and the ground shake like a magnitude seven earthquake _Oh, God,_ I thought, _Could that have been the helicopter?_ As dust settled, I checked over my shoulder to find, no, the helicopter was still flying, but it was rising and retreating. Additionally, fresh black smoke was rising from the ruins much faster and thicker than it had been before. "What just happened?" I cried out as I slowly rose to my feet.

Sadie couldn't have heard me because I didn't speak into a digivice, but I heard her explain through Thomas', " _That explosion came from underground! Was someone still down there?"_

"No way!" I asserted as I rubbed dirt from my eyes, "We did countless headcounts and accounted for every last human and digimon!" I yelled to those around me. I coughed then, and Renamon helped me stand up.

Thomas yelled into his device, "Maybe it's just some isolated thing. Or they wired the place to blow on a timer and set it off during the fight!" I was just thinking that was a reasonable explanation when the ground shook again. "Or not!"

A great metal claw burst out of what was then a crater and slammed itself on the ground forming its rim."Jesus Christ..." I mumbled, "Tell me that's not a digimon!" The titan's other claw emerged then, and I knew time was short. Just as my hearing had fully returned, I looked up to find the helicopter's chainguns unloading on the monster's hands. I guess it was a good effort, but I'm sure Sadie knew as well as I did that it would be a vain effort. Not only did the bullets not pierce, they ricocheted in all directions.

"That must be chrome digizoid!" Gabumon exclaimed, "Nothing can pierce it!"

"We'll have to find out!" I declared. Then I ran to Thomas and snathched his digivice. "Brad, you have to get down here! Do you still have that trump card?"

" _I'll never lose it,"_ he vowed.

"Sadie, get behind it and hover low. Everyone else on board, bail out. The rest of you, digivolve and attack from all sides! Don't let it out of its hole!" And then shit got loud all over again.

After Thomas got his digivice back, Biyomon digivolved to Birdramon, and then they too koff. At that point I detached myself from the fight to meet with the crew getting off the chopper. However, only Bradley had time to jump the five feet down to me before the giant digimon began to pull itself out of the pit. The beast was obviously some kind of machine - and on its back were weapons for days. " _Shit, shit, missiles! I gotta go!"_ Sadie panicked and began ascending again.

It was too late for Josh to abort his jump, so as the chopper rose he fell ten or fifteen feet. He only avoided injury because Renamon intercepted and caught him. Shoutmon was out soon after, jumping twenty feet but rolling to avoid injury. Unfortunately the copter still had another passenger who didn't make it off. "Veemon!" I called to him. As the chopper was around fifty feet up, I could see him prepare to drop but suddenly grab something inside to keep from falling out. His other hand reached downward at me as he just got further away.

"Sadie!" Joshua growled over the digivice, "Get back here, you bitch!"

" _No good! If I get hit by those missiles I'm dead!"_

"We need Veemon down here," I reiterated.

"I know!" Josh growled back at me as if I were the problem.

"Wait - no!" Brad cried out, still looking up. I followed his gaze to find a sight that made my stomach flip: from several hundred feet up, Veemon had jumped.

"Is he insane?" I yelled incredulously. Then I realized, "Wait! That's it!" Good thing I thought of it when I did, else Veemon would have gone _splat_. "Veemon! Digivolve!" Veemon's falling form was engulfed in light, and it made him resemble a falling star. But in the next instant he was the titanic dragonoid Exveemon, using his wings to raise his pitch out of a head first dive and level out. I was afraid it wouldn't work because he was so low when he did, and I was half-right. He still hit the ground. But he beat his wings hard to cushion the fall, and as soon as he touched it he just crouched on all fours and took right back off, which stirred up some furious wind in his wake that stirred up dust around our feet.

I was about to let out a battle cheer when I saw the giant digimon launch a pair of missiles. They didn't launch straight in the direction of the chopper, but they looped upwards 180 degrees to reach it, apparently guided missiles. In the last few moments, though, Birdramon launched fireballs from his wings that intercepted the missiles and detonated them early, letting sadie fly safely free. " _Be careful, everyone!_ " she radioed on her way out, " _Machinedramon is a mega level!"_ I guess after the way she nearly got blown to shit, I could forgive her for running off.

I barked, "Bradley, Gabumon! TIme to pull out all the stops!"

"Gabumon, digivolve to..." The digimon's luminescent body morphed to stand ten feet tall like a man rather than a wolf. In fact he closely resembled a werewolf. I guess his name fit him: "Weregarurumon!" Weregarurumon was essentially a ten-foot fall werewolf who for some reason wore jeans. "Alright, let's do this!" he growled as he lept at the beast Machinedramon. "Full Moon Blaster!"

I took my eyes off him then and ran to catch up with Exveemon, who was doing his best to get Vee Laser hits in between dodging missiles and machine gun fire. Jesus Christ, if humans designed a digimon for war and destruction, it would have been exactly Machinedramon. I even thought that maybe such was exactly what happened. Boy, with the stunts he had to pull, I was glad I wasn't riding him. "Exveemon!" I shouted so loud that my throat hurt. Even at that level I bet I was barely audible over all the chaos. "Rally all the digimon for a simultaneous attack! It's the only hope!" One saving grace for me was that; except for Renamon, Weregarurumon, and Armadillomon, whom I had helped digivolve as soon as the creature began emerging; were airborne digimon who could evade long enough to gather. When they did I held up three fingers in order to keep them synchronized. "Three! Two! One! Loose!" I counted fast, as time was short.

Those with ranged attacks unleashed their inner fury, and those without let the beast out to rage with close combat. I thought I was watching the gods unite to vanquish a demon. It was awe-inspiring, even moreso when I knew half those gods personally. It was also a total flub; Machinedramon was unfazed and even managed to fire more of its weapons during the barrage. Most of other poor digimon were sitting ducks and didn't even know it until they were struck.

Those that were fell from their battle stances to the ground. Unbelievable! While getting hit by so many attacks, Machinedramon still wiped the attackers out with the effort of swatting a bug! Only Exveemon and Weregarugumon had the vision to break off and get out of the way. "Unbelievable..." I moaned helplessly, mouth agape. Even Renamon, then devolved back from Kyubimon, didn't stand back up.

"Dylan!" Joshua exclaimed then, "We have to sent it back! Just like Monochromon!"

"No good!" Bradely shut that down right away. "The firewall is closed!"

"This is fucking _ridiculous_!" I cursed bitterly, "We're attacking a tank with sticks and slinshots. How can we up our firepower?"

"We can't," Brad pessimistically growled as Exveemon swooped over us, "Only a mega form even stands a chance. We don't have that!"

"We could escape, Josh suggested then, "We're in the middle of nowhere. Let's regroup and form a better plan."

"There's nowhere to hide, Josh!" I spat back, "and even if we did, Machinedramon would just wander until it found something else to destroy - like a city! The line in the sand has to be drawn right here."

"Or does it?" I saw the light bulb go off in Bradley's head. "We're near the peak of the mountain. We could lure it up and-"

"Yeah!" Josh exclaimed, "I like this plan!"

Well. It was something. May as well try, even if it was just our form of flailing at best. "We can't both go," I pointed out, "Brad, you and Weregarurumon have to care for the others and protect them. Exveemon can fly, so he'll have to be the bait." I think both of the guys were going to object, but I gave them no time, mostly because I wanted no time for my objections to my own plan to be considered. "Exveemon!"

I didn't have to tell him to pick me up; he got it. For time's and evasion's sakes, he landed almost with a crash on all fours and was back in the air almost before I was securely laying down between his shoulders with my arms over his neck.

Yay. More combat riding.

"We're gonna lure Machinedramon higher up the mountain," I explained as my friend gained altitude, "We need it on footing as tenuous as possible. After that, gravity will do the rest of our job for us." Right about then I wished I took a digivice up with me. Oh, well. There was no time to go back for one. "So what you have to do is draw his fire and evade it enough to piss him off and make him follow us up there." _With me on your backs no less._ I didn't add that.

I don't think Exveemon likes that idea. "Is there a backup plan?" he demanded. And, actually, the aerial view inspired one.

"Actually, yeah! If he won't follow us, we'll just bring the ground to him. You'll blast away at the mountain until it causes a rockslide - maybe even a whole landslide." There were cracks and protruding rocks all over just asking to be shaken loose by a moderate earthquake. "But we should try not to need that; we could bring the land itself down on top of our friends. There's also the risk that Machinedramon might blast the mountain himself, so we have to stay above it and out of missile range... maybe we'll get lucky, and he'll run out of ammo." Machinedramon shot as us. We evaded. "Maybe not!" Those clouds were starting to look pretty close by then, and acrophobia kicked in, adding to the fear of riding a dragonoid digimon and being shot with missiles. Oh, and bullets. "I guess it's not a full day without someone trying to kill us, is it?"

" I guess not!" Machinedramon was edging. Loser a couple of steps at a time, but it was a real slow process. At that rate it would take him hours to reach the summit.

"We've got to piss him off more. Make him even more aggressive and chase us!" Then again, what was Exveemon showed to do? Insult Machinedramon's mother? "Start striking back!"

Exveemon objected, "It won't hurt him! All that'll do is drain my energy."

Admittedly I didn't consider that, but I knew it mattered then; I couldn't have him dedigivolve, else the battle would be lost (and, you know, so would we). Oh, well. There was no alternative. "Sorry to say it, but there's no choice. He _must_ come up here? So make him mad."

"Vee Laser!" Exveemon blasted Machinedramon right in his metal face, earning a frustrated roar from him. He began trudging forward with a bit more urgency.

"Don't let him get bored," I urged on, "Blast him again!" He did.

"Why are we even fighting?" Exveemon fretted, "He won't speak! He's like an animal!"

I noticed that, too. "It's gotta be the experimentation. First it takes your digivolution, then your memory. After that you probably lose your mind altogether! It's like Monochromon!"

Actually, when I said it I suddenly found some reasons not to believe it. For example, there was no evidence that Kuwagamon or Meramon ever had human contact before me. Maybe their state was caused by the firewall collapse? I guessed it was remotely possible, but I couldn't think of what the link between the two events could possibly be. Still, maybe the cause may be on the digital world's side and in mine. For all I knew it could be totally unrelated to the collapse, even. And in that case, would it be the digidestined's mess to clean up?

"Crap!" I exclaimed as chaingun bullets made whizzing noises on their way past us. "That was too close!" By this point Machinedramon was hot on our tails, which would have been great except I could tell Exveemon was tiring. His wing flaps were heavier. I suppose hovering in the air for him was like treading water for us, except the air isn't pushing him upward against gravity like the water does. "Exveemon."

"I've gotta land," he grumbled with clear fatigue.

"He's almost high enough!" I tried to encourage despite the futility. "A little closer, and you can waste him!"

"I can't do it," he grunted with effort. He flew off then away from the fight entirely. "I'm putting you down."

"Exveemon!" I protested.

"I won't hear it!" he cut me off briskly, "I'm putting you down. Take your friends and get out of here."

"I refuse!" I screamed desperately, "We settled this! If we don't stop Machinedramon here he'll wreak havoc!"

"I just can't do that!" That quieted me. It looked like he was giving up. He landed in the middle of some forest whose tree coverage was so thick that I couldn't even see the giant Digimon anymore. Presumably he couldn't see us either. "Get off."

"Make me! We said we wouldn't split up again! We can still win!" I think I was just hysterical there.

Exveemon huffed. "I won't argue with you anymore!" At first I thought I had convinced him, but I hadn't. I just forced his hand, making him pluck me off of him and set me down on the ground.

"Exveemon!"

"I love you." His calmness only unnerved me still further.

"Don't!" I cried. It was worthless, though. He cleared the tree line in under two seconds, and I lost sight of him after that. I couldn't even hear the battle anymore.I cried out, "Come back!" in such a bloodcurdling voice that I even gave myself chills, not to mention throwing out my voice. I thought I felt a whole lot of energy leave me then, like I had just run a 10k in ten minutes. I fell over and gasped, "I can't move!" though it was mostly just breath. And that was it before I blacked out.

* * *

Just as I began coming to and rising up, a firm hand pushed my chest back down and kept it there. "Don't move," Renamon ordered as she brought a bottle of water to my lips. Disobeying didn't even cross my mind for once. Actually I drank more than I really wanted to, but Renamon wouldn't get that thing out of my face until she was satisfied I had enough.

"Ugh... tell me I didn't pass out from pure emotional stress. That would be pathetic," I groaned bitterly. Joshua and Shoutmon approached my bedside then. That's when I noticed I was even in a bed... apparently in a hospital?

"We're in the base's infirmary," Shoutmon clarified without prompt, "It survived the destruction."

"Shit, man, you're gonna make me cry!" Josh exclaimed as he hugged me. "Thank God you're alive!" I was just stunned by his mushy emotional outburst.

"Josh, he was never going to die!" Bradley scolded him. Boy, that was a relief.

"Actually he very well may have died," Renamon corrected.

I quipped, "Renamon, you are a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day."

"Well it's true." She went on, "Your heart stopped. The humans tell me that's bad for you."

"A little bit," I confirmed, feeling for my own pulse on my neck out of fright. It was there. Obviously. Duh. "How'd it start again? Defribrilator?" I assumed so; there was one on the floor beside me.

Yet Josh awkwardly replied with a useless, "Uh..."

Shoutmon rated him out: "We couldn't figure out how to make it work!"

I would have laughed if that wasn't so horrifying. "So... why am I still alive?"

Even more horrifying was that Bradley shrugged. "No idea. But you came back as soon as the fight was over. At least we think so; it was when the ground stopped shaking. We got down here before that."

I both needed and dreaded to ask my next question. "Where's Exveemon?"

I was afraid I wouldn't get a quick answer, but Gabumon gave one. "He's still above ground. We don't know if he's well, but he said he would come down here if he survived."

"And he did survive," Bradley stated without proof. His certainty didn't inspire any in me. "So I say we give him until the firewall opens again or one hour. Whichever comes last." Nods around the room silently assented. "He'll be here."

"He better be," I expressed, "We... agreed we wouldn't split up again."

"Another reason to think he'll come!" Brad emphasized again. I decided to stop underhandedly expressing my doubt.

"Where are my parents? Were they with you at the other place?"

"We sprung 'em. They're fine," Josh reassured me. "Don't know where they went after, but I bet they're safe. Besides, they won't have to hide for long; only until we make it pointless to find them."

"That's enough of that," Renamon interrupted, pushing me down again the very moment I tried to sit up again. "You rest now. There's nothing to do but hide and wait anyway. Understood?" Maybe I should have been mad, but she was logically sound. How could I be mad, at least at her? I was still mad, of course, but at our circumstances more than anything.

"...fine," I relented, "Then can you clear out? I wanna take a nap and tune out the world while I can."

Thankfully I got my wish. "Sure thing, man. We'll get you when it's time to move," Josh granted.

"I'll stay," Renamon insisted, "Someone needs to make sure your heart doesn't stop again."

"Ray of sunshine, Renamon," Funny enough, falling asleep with that creepy fox watching me like a creepy hawk was pretty easy. I guess I was just more tired than creeped out or, more prevalently, scared. For the most part I'm saving the end of my story for the end of my story, but - spoiler alert - I later wake up alive.

* * *

 _I loaded my guitar case into the trunk of my car parked outside my house, a green '01 Bonneville. After shutting the trunk I checked over my shoulder and wondered out loud, "What is taking him so long?" I watched the garage door, but Flamedramon actually jumped out of our bedroom window above it. "Flamedramon!" I scolded, "I've told you normal people only use doors."_

" _Well, that was faster," he defended, "Besides, you forgot this. You need it, don't you?" He showed me my Line 6 Spider IV, a small practice amp. You know, the two hundred dollar object he just jumped down two stories with. I decided not to get mad and let him stow it in the trunk._

 _I waited until it was closed to clarify, "This is a Ritz show. The bigger amp I'm using is in Keith's van. That little thing isn't nearly powerful enough."_

" _Well you could have told me!" he groaned._

" _I guess I could. Now come on." We both hopped in the car ourselves then. My driving style was somewhat obsessively safe, so for that reason I didn't even start the car until I heard the click of his seatbelt. Only after that were we off. "So here's your cover story: you're a friend in my drama class, and you look like you do because you're just coming from a sci-fi movie shoot. You're also a method actor, so you want to be called by your character's name, Flamedramon." I then added, "I figured using your real name would be one less lie." I thought he'd have trouble remembering a lie, but I thought he'd have more trouble telling one. Still, I could tell by his expression and past character that he was conflicted. "Thoughts?"_

 _He had one, but it wasn't what I expected: "Can you at least introduce me as your boyfriend?" I became nervous fast at that. "Like you said. One less lie to tell." Maybe that was part of his reasoning, but I suspected an ulterior motive: he wanted to claim me publically because it would make him feel good. But I guessed it would make me feel good, too._

" _OK. I guess Josh might blow it anyway, so I might as well." Flamedramon sighed to that. "What?"_

" _Well... the fight is over," he pointed out, "You don't have to be logical and pragmatic all the time._

 _I sighed but wasn't upset, at least with him. "That was never just because of the circumstances. You've known me over a year now, right? You know I don't always process my feelings well. And even less often do I express them well. I at least take responsibility for it, though. I added then, "But you really do make it easier. And I'm making some progress, aren't I?"_

 _I was relieved to watch Flamedramon flash a soft smile and lay a hand on my leg. "A bit," he admitted. Then the subject changed. "If today goes well, do you think I could leave the house a bit more often? I still feel as if I've barely seen the human world."_

 _I acknowledged, "Well, you're right. But the same cover won't work every time. Still, I don't like making you a prisoner either. And I'm sorry for that, but_ I'll _go to prison if the public learns about digimon, and you'll be deported from Earth if you're lucky." I shivered. "They made that quite clear." I pulled into a plaza parking lot just as Flamedramon proposed an idea._

" _You know... you wouldn't have to worry about all that in the digital world. We could just be us." I suppose my countenance betrayed my skepticism. "We have civilization, too, you know," he pitched, "Villages and cities. No humans, maybe, and it's not the same as what you have here, but you wouldn't have to hide me. Or yourself."_

 _Huh. I had never considered that before. Still, my first instinct was resistance, even if it was an option my conscious mind kind of wanted to consider. "I suppose I don't have to explain how hard it is to give up your whole life," I preambled, "That's a one-way trip. I don't have a digivice, after all, and once the firewall is fully restored we could never find our own way back - and all that depends on there still being a hole we can fit through to begin with. Plus convincing someone to send us." I parked the car then, and not a moment too soon either. Now I could take me eyes off the road and meet Flamedramon's. "But - I will consider it. For real, I promise. And you know I've always kept my promises to you."_

 _Flamedramon's smile turned sly. "I can think of one promise you haven't kept."_

" _Hey, be patient!" I opened the car door and stepped out, face flushing red. "Now I hope you're hungry. We have time for dinner before the show, so I was thinking-"_

" _I know what you were thinking," the demi-dragon mused. I guess there were two obvious indicators, after all. One is that I rarely ever thought about anything else. The other is, well, we were right in front of the building. Leaning Tower of Pizza's: the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet!_

" _Hey! Alfred!" I belted out as soon as I made my grand entrance. In the back by the ovens I caught the portly manager peeking up at me. "Usual please, plus a buffet and drink for my friend." Flamedramon cleared his throat loudly. "Boyfriend," I corrected._

" _Hey, I'm a little busy up here, OK? Just pay on your way out!" Alfred called back. He knew he could trust me because, well, I had been eating there regularly practically since I was a fetus._

" _You got it!" I reached over the counter and took two cups, one colorless and one translucent blue, as well as four plates, two for Flamedramon. "Flamedramon, you haven't lived until you've had all-you-can-eat pizza, brownies, and garlic cheesy bread in decadent quantities. If there was a hell, enjoying something this much would get me there." As we slid down the buffet I used tongs to snatch five rectangular slices of fresh from the oven garlic cheesy bread - only the ones with the most thickness and largest dimensions. I also foisted a few onto Flamedramon's plate, but those were chosen less carefully. "And you have to try those, by the way. Non-negotiable."_

 _Flamedramon didn't get to see me loose very often. I don't know if he was amused of proud or just relieved, but either way he gave me a grin which I had to give back to him. As we advanced down the line, I peered over my shoulder. Clearly, and expectedly, Flamedramon was generating a buzz among the patrons. However, some seemed content with having no explanation. The rest changed topics once someone suggested it was a costume or make up. Still, the curious looks continued, since it would have to be a really great costume and makeup._

 _To ease my nerves, at least a little, and discourage more looks, I set my plates down in a corner booth stacked with garlic cheesy bread and plain cheese pizza. Flamedramon, though, had created some unholy chimeratic meal of salad, garlic cheesy bread, pizza of all Leaning Tower of Pizza's most outrageous toppings (including macaroni and cheese), and a heterogenous pile of several different salad dressings. I suppose I could have corrected him, but it was more fun not to. "Let me get your drink for you," I offered, "Something new or something familiar?"_

" _Today's about trying new things, right?" my boyfriend pointed out. "Speaking of which-"_

" _Like I said! I keep my promises!" My cheeks turned rosy again, and I was in a big hurry to escape the conversation after that. I couldn't believe he went there in public! I should have gotten revenge through his drink, but I took the high road and stuck with Pepsi... though it turned out that would be my revenge._

 _The result was amusing. I think he was actually scared by the tingling sensation of carbonation on his tongue, but he was a real trooper, riding it out and swallowing. "Wow. This is a treat for humans? he wondered skeptically, holding his cup at a distance from himself._

" _Not all of us," I reminded, meaning myself, as I took his glass from him. "Water?"_

" _Please!"_

 _I kept my word and payed on the way out. Flamedramon kept his word and tried the garlic cheesy bread - and he snuck two pieces to the car with him. Neither was for me. "On to the Ritz, then! The band is expecting pizza and a guitar player, and The Wisdom Inside would never forgive us if their opening band was late."_

 _I wasn't late. Never was, never am. Josh, Colby, Alex, and I (along with Alex's annoying girlfriend) all spent about an hour by my car eating pizza and chilling. Flamedramon made himself scarce, probably because he knew he'd never be able to answer many questions about himself and keep his cover. Eventually I asked, "So, Josh, is your uncle here tonight?" He knew whom I meant, and it wasn't his uncle._

" _Him? Nah, he couldn't be bothered to get off the couch. But he said he'd watch the livestream." That was OK; I saw Shoutmon enough anyway._

" _Jimena said the same," I informed Josh, "and Thomas. She also said her whole family is learning English to move to the States!"_

" _Pfft," Alex snickered, "We don't have enough illegal Mexicans already?" I think I deserved points of some sort for not hitting him._

" _Jimena is Dominican, and she wants to be here legally. Hey, Josh, think we might know a government official who could... expedite things for her?"_

" _I just might," he snickered._

 _The Wisdom Inside chilled with us when they arrived, too, and while they were pretty cool guys, even to a baby band like us, they mostly kept to themselves. Josh was worried I made a mistake by bringing Flamedramon, but it turned out nobody gave a crap about him once the music was playing. It probablynhelped that TWI was wearing absurd costumes, too. We played a great show, but, damn, we couldn't even compar to them. We'd have to do better still. In fact, it turned out we wouldn't even get paid that night! Again! Four total hours of gas for two vehicles, and we couldn't even make a dime._

 _Flamedramon was a good sport, letting me whine about both the night and the long-term effort/return proportion of this band. That led to a bigger issue: I was fearing I would never make it as a pro musician. A friendly ear wasn't enough to make that feel better. Actually, that was a months-long crisis I had been having, but I never expressed it before. Flamedramon had little to say as we parked in my driveway. "Well... it's over for now. You don't have to think about it this second." I didn't ecn bi he unpacking my guitar when I pulled in home. I just left it in the car._

 _Even though Flamedramon had showered with me before on occasion, I did it alone that time. Additionally, despite having showered together, I was still shy enough to walk out with a bathrobe, even from our own bathroom attached to our bedroom. Then I passed the room over to Flamedramon. Only then did I lose the robe. While he showered I exchanged my towel for boxer briefs, hit the lights (leaving them just bright enough for Flamedramon not to be blind) and shut my eyes. I tried my best not to nod off, though._

 _One fortunate thing about sharing a bathroom with him was he never left hair in the drain. He didn't have any._

 _Flamedramon wasn't as modest as I. He left all of his armor in the bathroom. I always thought it was funny how he didn't feel naked wearing it despite its revealing nature, but he probably thought human clothes were silly, too. To his credit or perhaps my discredit, he defied my expectations to be all seductive and amorous as soon as he got into bed. He just whispered, "Hey," to get my attention._

 _I was facing away from him but rolled slightly. "Time to dedigivolve?"_

" _Not yet," he replied before adding, "But I will if you want me to." I shook my head. "You don't owe me anything. And I know the mood is a bit spoiled after the drive."_

 _I shook my head again, but I really appreciated his respect for me. I rolled to face him directly and pointed out, "That doesn't void my promise." Of course, I knew that didn't matter much to either of us right then. "But more importantly... I do love you."_

 _The Digimon snickered then. "You come here!" he jokingly commanded. He fulfilled his own demand by pulling me into an embrace and pushing his lips on mine. Flamedramon was quite unique as a match for me, I think; he always knew the state of my somewhat fluid boundaries, both when I wanted to be touched intimately and when I didn't want to be touched at all._

 _I never kissed anyone else, but TV convinced me that people's eyes normally drooped shut during such an intense kiss. Yet, Flamedramon would never even blink. I even pointed that out to him once. He told me, "You're the most handsome creature I've ever seen. I never want to take my eyes off you."_

 _Boy, I sure can pick 'em, couldn't I? I was still a bit nervous, not scared, about what were about to do, but Flamedramon did a pretty good job of keeping me calm. Once we got down to it, I didn't regret my promise. I even promised to do it again._

* * *

Renamon was snapping her fingers in my face to demand that I wake up. "Are you alright?" she asked with a worried look on her face. She seemed alarmed.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I tried to ease her, "Why! What's wrong?"

She informed me, "You were writhing and moaning in your sleep." Oh, boy, did I have an egg on my face for that. Blood rushed to my cheeks.

"Uh... just a nightmare." That was a bold-faced lie. The truth was it was the greatest dream I ever had, but I didn't want to explain why I was writhing and moaning. Luckily I ended up on my belly (which tells you what position[s] we may have used), so my secret was safe from her prying eyes.

"It has been a stressful day, hasn't it?" Yes. She bought it.

"How long was I out?"

"About 90 minutes. We haven't found any sign of Exveemon or Machinedramon, but it is safe to leave." I knew that last part was also a suggestion.

"No. Not without him," I remained resolute, even sitting up and looking her in the eye.

"Gabumon, Armadillomon, and their humans have already started searching. When they return we shall leave." Well, that was a relief; I wouldn't have to argue for exactly that. "I'd like you to stay, though. I have a favor to ask you." I became curiously wary. "Shoutmon has wandered off. I'd like you to bring him back here."

My skepticism was apparent. "Why should I be able to find him if you can't?"

"He's in the remains of the prisons." Boy, that was easy. "But he won't come out. Please bring him." I was confused, but I supposed if Renamon had known more than that she would have told me. So I just shrugged and headed off. At least it was something to do.

Finding him was the easy part. All I had to do was follow the disturbing wailing noise, which by itself made me cringe inside. Luckily when I got there he had fallen to pathetic sobbing, which was more bearable. He was on his knees with his face in his hands inside an open cell, and because he was facing inside he didn't even hear or see me coming. So I called inside, "Shoutmon?" to ask for his attention. I didn't get it, though. Instead I demanded, "Shoutmon," as an imperative. That didn't work either. _Does he even hear me?_

I gave up pretty fast at that, and I wasn't sure touching him would be welcome (I respect bodily autonomy). Maybe I could find out why he was so upset, though. What even happened? I stepped back out of the cell as if taking a wider view would help, but surprisingly it did. I noticed all the cell doors were labelled with numbers and names. I was terrified to partially lose Shoutmon's cell door to read it, and I was right to be; turns out, it was his. "Ah, man... that explains the no digivolving." I supposed I might have tried harder to bring Shoutmon back, but I frankly had enough of my own problems to worry about. He was Josh's partner anyway. Let him worry about his partner and me about mine.

* * *

I went back to napping for a while, but I didn't dream. I couldn't rest easily enough for that with conflict unresolved and my best friend missing (I still had trouble using a more affectionate term, even in my own head). But I guess I was tired enough to at least shut my eyes and not want to open them. Too bad I kind of had to when there was a lot of shouting and noise outside the infirmary, so I rose to investigate.

I didn't get far, only to the doorway, before Joshua pushed me back from it. "Sorry, man, but move over!" It sounded important, so I stood aside obediently. I'm glad I did, too: Bradley and Renamon stumbled through it slowly behind him. They also brought a third one, a digimon, leaning on their shoulders. "Veemon!" I cried out excitedly, even though it wasn't him. It was a similar looking digimon I had never seen before, tall as Flamedramon but clad in a more covering golden armor. Still, he had to be mine, I knew. And that made it more painful to see him badly beat up and missing lots of armor. Not his helmet, though, but as he was set on the nearest bed it just fell off to reveal Flamedramon's face. Even his voice, though weak, was the same. "Is Dylan with you?"

Seriously? That was his biggest concern in that moment? I thought he had his priorities wrong, but I was still touched by that fact, moreso because he apparently didn't even see that I was in the room to hear it. But he did when people and digimon stepped aside to not block his view of me. I could see him better, too, nursing burns and a stomach gash with only his hands, breathing heavily, and... smiling. He knew too well how to calm me, and I was sure the need for it showed on my face. "I'm gonna be fine," he insisted so casually that his injury might have been a papercut. "You... should see the other guy."

I shook my head then. "That's not funny." I wanted to cry again but didn't yet.

"Then why are you smiling? I guess I was, but I didn't even notice until he pointed it out and embarrassed me.

"I'd ask you the same thing." I sniffed pathetically. "Probably the same answer, too."

I love recalling mushy moments as much as anyone else, but that was there this one ended. Gabumon barked, "Clear out! I'll tend to him," and started shoving, even, so we all made it quick.

But Veemon, or whatever that form's name was, found time to call, "Hey!" and insist, "I _am_ going to be fine," before we left.

Once out of earshot of those two, Josh exclaimed, "Jesus! That's frickin' Magnamon in there! How'd you do that?"

My eyes doubled in diameter, and I pointed at the room. "That's Magnamon? The crazy powerful royal knight we spent half our time hunting down?"

"That is him" Renamon affirmed, "but how a human without even a digivice has the energy for that... it's baffling. I can't believe even you have that kind of power." Boy, was that embarrassing. Everyone was flashing the my-hero eyes, and all I even did was scream and faint. I didn't do anything, at least consciously, but I guess it wouldn't be my first accidental digivolution.

"Do you think he beat Machinedramon?" Bradley asked the group. "They're both mega levels. It could have gone either way."

"Yes." Once again I was sure of something I didn't see. "He said, 'You should see the other guy.' Plus... he's still alive. And Magnamon would die before giving up." I then pointed out, "He has before."

My spirits were up for a good while, but I never wandered far from the infirmary anyway. I didn't expect to be needed, but I wanted to peek in when I could. Gabumon eventually caught me and chewed me out, but I just made sure he wouldn't catch me again.

"How's Shoutmon?" I eventually got around to asking Josh.

"He needs time alone, so let him have it. He's really down, but he'll get over it." I guess he kind of had to, but I felt empathy for him. I knew how he felt, even if I never experienced what he did or anything similar to it. "It must have been before we met. He never forgot me or disappeared."

"I know you wanna give him space he wants, but don't forget to be his friend to." I swallowed and reminded him, "Speaking from experience." I didn't clarify it to him beyond that, but he knew I meant Alex.

That night I spent my time alone sulking again. I had reminded myself that guys I fell in love with had a history of winding up worse off than when they met me, because of me, so I wasn't believing Magnamon when he insisted that wouldn't happen anymore. I had no issue sleeping on a floor, but I had issue of not being with him considering that. So I snuck off to the infirmary.

I made it past Gabumon, but Magnamon deliberately rolled to face me as soon as I took my first step inside. Freaky. "Sorry I woke you," I apologized. He looked better, but only because bandages hid his injuries.

"I wasn't asleep. I was waiting for you." I had gotten close enough to touch, but I didn't expect him to reel me in by my arm like a fish on a line to give me a quick kiss. It made me blush. "Don't talk. I shouldn't be talking. So just go to bed, OK? I'll see you tomorrow." By his phrasing I guess it was true: he really had foreseen me sneaking into the room to sleep with him.

I obeyed unquestioningly, taking the bed next to his. ONly then was I able to sleep even a wink, and I think the same might have been true for him. But even as I drifted off, I couldn't shake the fear that I would wake up alone.


	19. Notice of Hiatus

It seems writing these as fast as I can in order to publish more isn't working for me; I've gone back to reread and found many logic and continuity errors. Combine that with low reader interest, and I must conclude that this story is on indefinite hiatus. But one day I'll probably be motivated to go fix those continuity errors, because I personally love this story more than most others.


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